Laughing makes you lose weight

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Dieters looking for another edge might want to consider exercising their sense of humor — scientists have found that a good laugh is a calorie burner not to be ignored.

It may not be as good for reducing the waistline as going to the gym or resisting that ice-cream sundae, but American researchers have found that 10-15 minutes of genuine giggling can burn off the number of calories found in a medium square of chocolate.

The findings on the weight-loss possibilities of the uniquely human experience of laughter were presented at the close of the annual European Congress on Obesity on Saturday.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, recruited 45 pairs of friends, shut them in a room decorated like a cheap hotel — scientifically known as a metabolic chamber — played them comedy clips on a TV screen and measured how many calories burned when they laughed.

The researchers separately tested seven pairs of male friends, 17 pairs of female friends and 21 mixed couples.

"We didn't tell them that the goal of the study was to measure laughter, because then they might have forced it. And forced laughter is regulated by a totally different part of the brain. We wanted it to be genuine laughter," said the lead researcher, Maciej Buchowski, director of bionutrition at Vanderbilt.

The original story is from CNN. Time to get out those Seinfeld DVDs. And the Marx Brothers! Jim Carrey! Bob Hope and Bing Crosby!

Article Author: Miriam

Miriam is a recovering librarian and sometime writer who wrote a book about African American aviators and astronauts cleverly entitled, "Distinguished African American Aviators and Astronauts." She's kind of stuck back in the twentieth century.

Visit Miriam's author page — Miriam's Blog