Laugh your way to better health

Karl Burkhardt has no reason to apologize, but has found lots of reasons to laugh, so he looked into the eyes of a stranger and belted out his best "I'm sorry" laugh.

Then he ambled over to another stranger and repeated the performance.

For two months, the 77-year-old retired painter has been yukking it up with others at the Open Heart Laughter Yoga Club in Lakewood, Ohio. His buddies at the yacht club have noticed a change.

"Karl is laughing more," they say.

No kidding, say doctors and researchers who have found positive benefits of laughter, from maintaining a healthy heart to reducing stress and depression.

Many people have heard how the late Saturday Review editor Norman Cousins laughed himself back to health from a debilitating spinal disease by watching funny movies. Since Cousins' book "Anatomy of an Illness" was published in 1979, many others have documented the benefits of humor and laughter.

Dr. Michael Miller, a cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center, found that people who watched funny movies such as "There's Something About Mary" had increased blood flow to the heart compared with those who watched sad movies such as "Saving Private Ryan."

Lee Berk, who has a doctorate in public health, and his team of researchers at Loma Linda University in California found that the anticipation of "mirthful laughter" increased hormones that alleviate depression and enhance immunity and reduced stress hormones.

Dr. William Fry, psychiatrist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, has studied humor and laughter for years and has found that it helps maintain a healthy heart. One minute of laughter equals 10 minutes on the rowing machine, he says.

The idea of getting people together to laugh in clubs began in India 13 years ago. Dr. Madan Kataria was in the midst of writing a magazine article about the benefits of laughter when he got the brainstorm to round up friends and head to a park to practice laughing.

The scheme spread. Now there are more than 8,000 laughter clubs in 60 countries, including several in Minnesota, such as Smile Connections at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.

To get people laughing, Kataria initially told jokes, but the Bombay physician quickly ran out of good material. Because fake laughter produces the same health benefits, he turned to prompts, such as telling the crowd to laugh like a lion or to greet each other with a laugh.

It didn't take long for the fake laugh to become real.

Kataria's wife, a yoga teacher, added breathing exercises and gentle stretching to the routine, and now thousands of people have been trained to lead laughter clubs using Kataria's method.

Pamela Venus has been leading the Lakewood laughter club since October.

"We're really into the joy here," she told the 15 people who recently gathered at the condominium complex where she lives.

She asked the participants, ranging from 16 to 80, to keep the mood positive, avoiding controversial topics such as politics.

During the hourlong class, only Venus talked as she instructed the participants to walk around the room, look each other in the eyes and exchange a shy laugh, a bullfrog laugh, an appreciative laugh, a flying-bird laugh and so on.

"I was shocked at the fake laughter and how quickly it became genuine," Pat Murray said after attending her first class.

Venus now does laughing exercises daily and has seen positive changes in her life.

"When I do get stressed out, it's not as much and it's for a much shorter period of time," she said.

And her new favorite word? Laughalicious.