Laughter, whether a little chuckle or the kind that brings tears to your eyes, is a clear sign of a good, healthy time. Yes, the health benefits are real and well documented. One small study from 2019 published in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that laughter yoga, a practice involving simulated laughter, greatly decreased symptoms of depression and improved quality of life compared to treatment-as-usual. Other research has shown it to be good medicine for blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and heart health. Before you dry those tears — note that your laughter might even be good for your eyes.
In a new study published today in the British Medical Journal, researchers in China and the U.K. posed the question of how laughter stacks up against eyedrops as treatment for the disease. They found that laughter worked at least as well as eyedrops, even outperforming them in some areas.
The team randomly sorted 283 participants ages 18 to 45 with dry eye disease into two groups. The control group took eyedrops, consisting of 0.1 percent sodium hyaluronic acid, 4 times a day for 8 weeks. The experimental group performed laughter therapy 4 times a day for 8 weeks. After the 8-week mark, both groups stopped treatment before follow-ups at weeks 10 and 12. The researchers then assessed each patient’s ocular surface disease index score.
The laughter therapy was a specially designed routine meant to optimally engage the ocular muscles (not, unfortunately, to make the person laugh until they cry). For four times a day for 56 days straight, participants in the experimental group had to sit down and chant, “Hee hee hee, hah hah hah, cheese cheese cheese, cheek cheek cheek, hah hah hah hah hah hah,” 30 times in a row for every 5-minute session.
So whether you want to fake it or just find a reason to laugh, you can add dry eye disease to the list of its miriad benefits. And don’t forget the most fundamental reasons to laugh: As primatologists who study the evolution of laughter well know, its role in social bonding is essential and something that brings further health benefits. That’s nothing to laugh at — but you should probably try to anyway.
