When I proposed to a lecture theatre of Psychology Honours students that I wanted to do a study testing whether a Laughie could help teens sleep - I was met with silence.

“You know. A Laughie!”

Confused - Frowning - Silence. I guess they hadn’t heard of a Laughie.

I began describing what a Laughie was…

That woke them up!

They were all practically smiling. Some began giggling.

“See. You’re all smiling right now!”

Then, many began laughing (although this has happened to me before in lecture theatres - and afterwards I noticed my jean’s zipper was down…)

The Proposal

A co-author of mine, Associate Professor Teresa Arora posted a new paper they had published. It was a proposal for a study that they were going to perform.

It caught my eye because I’d never heard of it before. But delving into the paper uncovered several studies that had used laughter to improve people’s wellbeing.

Yet Teresa was also going to test whether it improved sleep.

This was the sort of nugget I was looking for - a tidy little project that would be well suited for an Honours student to test out in 2021.

Keep It Brief

When I started my clinical research career in 2005, I wanted to change the world. I wanted to invent new sleep Cognitive-Behaviour Therapies (CBT) for school kids and teens.

6 years later - those studies were published.

10 years after that, and those studies have clearly opened doors - to the rest of the world.

People wanted to learn how to treat the sleep of kids and teens. And they were willing to fly me over to their country, set me up in a hotel, feed me (that’s my favourite part) - and even pay me to teach them.

As much as these CBT programs were effective. They took ages.

Don’t get me wrong though. In the area of ‘sleep’ and ‘insomnia’ we are very fortunate. Our CBT programs can take 4 to 6 weeks to be effective - whereas my colleagues who work in Eating Disorders, PTSD and Autism have treatments that take months.

Nevertheless, sometimes I feel like I have ADHD or restless-person-syndrome.

So our team began seeing how brief we could get our sleep treatments to be - and thus how quickly we could achieve results

Dr Kate Bartel

After subjecting one of my PhD students to research torture (eg, doing a meta-analysis of how ‘everything’ affects teen sleep) - Kate Bartel and I decided to teach teens how to sleep better.

And our mission?

To do it in a single class. And it succeeded.

It opened our mind to the possibility that a single ‘sleep tip’ could work.

And I was hungry for more …

WTF is a Laughie?

Sorry folks - but I’ve gotta give our subscribers a bit extra - otherwise, why subscribe? So this week they’ve been sent the 8 steps required to perform a Laughie.

If you don’t want to miss out on little nuggets yourself, you can subscribe to our free weekly newsletter (go to the bottom of any webpage).

If missing out means you’re feeling down, maybe try watching a Youtube video that has ‘epic fail’ in the title - maybe that will get you back on track? …

HTF does a Laughie help us sleep?

Scientific research has shown that people are more likely to worry and/or ruminate first thing in the morning and at the end of the day.

And cognitive-emotional theory states that if we worry and/or ruminate - then negative feelings follow.

Theoretically, laughing ‘forces’ one’s mood to shift towards the positive. It may even bypass the complex skills of cognitive therapy to shift our negative thinking.

Initial research shows that for people experiencing low levels of wellbeing, the Laughie can reduce anger, anxiety and stress (Gonot-Schoupinksy & Garip, 2019; Gonot-Schoupinsky et al., 2020).

Common feelings experienced by people who have difficulty falling asleep.

So Does Laughter Help People Sleep?

So far - Yes.

‘Laughter therapy’ has mainly been performed in Asian countries (Korea, Japan, China) and the Middle East (Iran and Israel) - and the preliminary evidence suggests it improves sleep quality.

Conclusion?

For decades, the phrase ‘laughter is the best medicine’ has been floating around.

Now, it appears it’s time to test that out - especially for our mental health.

There’s been so many wearables, nearables and apps that have been focusing their efforts on raising people’s awareness of their physical and mental health - as well as their sleep.

Thinking back on 2020 - was that the year that billions of people laughed the least?

If so, it’s time to turn that around.

I’m reminded of the movie ‘Fight Club’ where Brad Pitt tasks the members of Fight Club to go out and pick a fight with a stranger.

How about ensuring that we make people laugh this week? And if not them - yourself?

Spread the science (this post) and share the laughter …

• Prof Michael Gradisar