Laughter: Good Heart Disease Med?

May Help Prevent It And Help Therapy For Heart Patients

(CBS)  "That very much indicates," Senay told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm, "that laughing could actually improve your cardiovascular status and maybe even prevent or help treat heart disease, because you really want to increase blood flow, not decrease it, when you're talking about heart health."

So, Senay observes, it seems that laughter has physical benefits that go along with being in a positive frame of mind.

Stressful emotions and depression are common among heart patients, Senay notes. According to a new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, one-in-five patients hospitalized for a heart attack suffers from major depression, and these patients may be more likely than other heart attack patients to need hospital care again within a year for a cardiac problem, and be three times as likely to die from a future attack or other heart problems.

The report also found that those with major depression can have a delay in returning to work, worse quality of life, and worse physical and psychological health after they leave the hospital.

Psychotherapy and other stress management techniques are now routinely used to help patients manage depression, hostility and other stressful emotions following heart surgery. From these early results, it seems that lightening up with comedy could also be tried as a way to complement medical care. We need further study on the effects of laughter as a therapy.