CRI听力:Laughter to Cure Heart Disease

Professor Michael Miller is the director of Preventative Cardiology at the University of Maryland's School of Medicine. He and his team have been studying the effects of laughter on thirty volunteers over the last five years. They believe laughter is seriously therapeutic.

The men and women in the study were aged between thirty and seventy. They are all healthy and didn't have a history of cardiovascular disease.

They were brought in to watch serious dramas and comedies on separate days. But Miller is keen to show that the effects can be measured on someone with a history of cardiovascular problems as well.

"There is now some scientific evidence that supports the fact that laughter should not be taken lightly, that it really does appear to have a physiological effect. What we still don't know is whether practicing laughter on a regular basis reduces the risk of heart attacks."

Miller explains that first of all, the volunteer was treated to the film "Kingpin" before measurements were taken of the endothelium, or inner lining of the blood vessel.

"The endothelium is the inner lining (of the) blood vessel and that's what we're looking at. The inner lining of blood vessels is very important because there are chemicals and other messengers that are sent between the bloodstream and into our various tissues and basically serves to guard against noxious chemicals, if you will and protects us. If you have risk factors for heart disease, then that inner lining doesn't function as well and the idea here is that after stress, you're constricting the blood vessel because chemicals are produced to cause that reaction and over time those continued stressful reactions can have a damaging effect on the heart."

Once the measurements have been taken the sonographer attaches the cuff back onto the volunteer's arm and he settles down to watching the traumatic story of "Saving Private Ryan". Again Miller measures the inner lining of the blood vessel and he's pleased with the result. He says:

"The magnitude of the change that we have seen after experiencing a good laugh is similar to what is experienced after aerobic activity and is similar to what is experienced after taking a heart protective medication such as a statin."

Miller is hopeful that in years to come he may eventually be able to show that laughter may be an alternative to statins, which are cholesterol-fighting medicines.

He believes this may be of help to the minority of people who suffer side effects from statins.

But Miller says more importantly he's keen to know whether a hearty chuckle, combined with a healthy lifestyle may help prevent heart disease.

"The question really now is that we know that laughing appears to have a good effect on our cardiovascular system, but how does that translate into people that already have established heart disease. In other words if you take a group of people and have them laugh on a regular basis, will that potentially reduce their risk of having a heart attack, or another heart attack."

Making people laugh to order is not an easy task, certainly when patients are anxious and suffering pain, but it's something that's interesting heart doctors. But it'll be many years before the medical profession can devise an alternative therapy to traditional drugs.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.