This is what the media are saying about laughter

Always look on the bright side 

Read this articleby the Oxford Mail reporting a recent Laughter event in Oxford led by John Gloster-Smith and Akasha Lonsdale

You can also watch the accompanying video: turn on your PC sound.

Specsavers

Read what the UK's No.1 opticians had to say about one of our events which we ran with them

Laughter is the best medicine

Local news of the opening Laughter Class in Chippenham, Wiltshire, in which Akasha is interviewed by the newpaper. It stresses that laughter improves self-esteem, health, relationships and communication. "Just laughing relieves stress and anxiety and helps you become relaxed and comfortable in stressful environments". She also says that "people who laugh together work well together and this is obviously a positive thing for any office or workforce".

See the full article by clicking on this link

Laugh and the world can't help laughing with you, study says

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent, UK. Published: 13 December 2006

A very useful article that highlights research on the brain by Sophie Scott of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, who shows that positive, emotive sounds like a giggle or a shout of triumph trigger an involuntary response in the brain that prepares facial muscles to join in, helping forge social bonds. "It seems that it is absolutely true that 'laugh and the world laughs with you'," said Sophie. The research showed the response was greater for positive sounds, suggesting these were more contagious than the negative ones. "This could explain why we respond to laughter or cheering with an involuntary smile, the researchers said". Professor Scott said that the key lay in group situations in which such emotions usually occured, such as watching comedy together. She concluded that laughter could play an important part in building strong bonds between people.

See www.laughteryoga.org

The Laughter cure

Recent BBC coverage on happiness

In the summer of 2006, the BBC ran a series of programmes on happiness and what research has uncovered on the subject in recent years. This article says that the under-valued component of happiness is contentment and that "what we want depends on us, rather than the situation, so by changing our perspective we can affect our level of contentment as much, if not more, as we could do by changing the situation".

See Happiness Formula

Laughter is a powerful way of changing perspective.

Health benefits of laughter

This linkprovides an excellent summary of the health benefits of laughter