Study Suggests Laughter Is Good for the Heart

An ESL/EFL Lesson for Confident Pre-intermediate Students
This is part of Creating ESL/EFL Lessons Based on News and Current Events by Sean Banville.

The Article

Have you heard the old saying that laughter is the best medicine? Then listen to this. Seriously, research has already shown that mental stress can restrict blood flow to the heart. But now a study has linked laughter to increased blood flow. Laughter appears to cause the tissue inside blood vessels to expand. As a result, laughing may be important to reduce the risk of heart disease.

So says Doctor Michael Miller of the University of Maryland Medical Center. He led a study of twenty men and women, all healthy. To get them to laugh, they watched part of the movie "Kingpin," a nineteen ninety-six comedy. To create the opposite emotions, they watched the opening battle in the nineteen ninety-eight war movie "Saving Private Ryan."

The researchers used ultrasound technology to measure changes in blood flow through an artery in the arm.

Blood flow increased in nineteen of the twenty people after they watched "Kingpin." The increase was an average of twenty-two percent. Doctor Miller says that is similar to the effects of aerobic exercise.

Blood flow decreased in fourteen of the twenty people after they watched "Saving Private Ryan." The decrease was an average of thirty-five percent.

Studies have shown that stress can reduce the body's ability to fight disease. When the body is under stress, it produces hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol. Cortisol is related to fear; adrenalin prepares the body to react. But too much of these hormones can be harmful.

Doctor Miller noted that the study could not explain how laughter is responsible for the effects observed. Do the effects come from the movement of muscles, or from a chemical release?

The researchers say laughter may cause the body to release pleasure chemicals, just as when a person exercises. Doctor Miller says these endorphins may block the effect of stress hormones and cause the blood vessels to expand. Laughter may also influence the release of nitric oxide, which too expands blood passages.

The results were presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology. Doctor Miller does not advise people to replace exercise with laughter. But, based on the results, he does suggest fifteen minutes of laughter each day.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk. (May 24, 2005)

Source: http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2005-05-24-voa2.cfm
MP3 File: se-health-laughter-may-help-the-heart-24may05.mp3
(Right-click or option-click the link to download the MP3 file.)

Warm Up Ideas

1. Laughter: Spend a minute or two writing down all the times you have laughed today or this week. Share what you wrote with your partner. Did he/she also laugh at the things you found funny? Change partners and repeat the activity.

2. Best Medicine: There is an old saying that laughter is the best medicine. Do you agree? Which of the things below do you think are the best medicines? Put them in order of the "best medicines".

_____ Laughter

_____ Pharmacy drugs

_____ Sleep

_____ Aerobic exercise

_____ Hormones

_____ Money

_____ Adrenalin

_____ Vitamin supplements

_____ Lots of fruit and vegetables

3. Chat: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics you would like to talk about (and why) and which you would not like to talk about (and why not).

medicine / mental stress / blood vessels / heart disease / comedy movies

aerobic exercise / hormones / adrenalin / pleasure chemicals / laughter

Have a chat about the topics you decided you liked.

4. Two-minute Debates: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second.

Laughter improves your health. vs. Laughter has no effect on your health.
War movies are more interesting than comedies. vs. Comedies are better.
Laughter is similar to exercising. vs. There is little relation between laughter and exercise
Happy people live longer. vs. Happiness does not affect longevity.
Laughing is better for you than exercising. vs. Exercise is better for you.
People should always believe health reports. vs. Sometimes health reports are dangerous.

Pre-reading / Listening

1. True/False:

With your partner(s), agree on whether the following sentences are true of false:

a.	There's an old saying that laughter is the worst medicine.	T / F
b.	A study has linked laughter to decreased blood flow.	T / F
c.	People in the study were tickled for 19 minutes to get them to laugh.	T / F
d.	Laughter may have similar effects on the body as aerobic exercise.	T / F
e.	Laughter can reduce the body's ability to fight disease.	T / F
f.	A doctor said he could not explain why laughter is good for us.	T / F
g.	Laughter may cause the body to release unpleasant chemicals.	T / F
h.	A doctor advised people to replace exercise with laughter.	T / F

2. Phrase Match:

With your partner(s), agree on the matches of the following phrases from the article:

a.	the old saying that laughter is	study of twenty men and women
b.	a study has linked	how laughter is responsible
c.	He led a	aerobic exercise
d.	technology to measure	of laughter each day
e.	similar to the effects of	in fourteen of the twenty people
f.	Blood flow decreased	can be harmful
g.	stress can reduce the body's	the best medicine
h.	But too much of these hormones	laughter to increased blood flow
i.	the study could not explain	ability to fight disease
j.	he does suggest fifteen minutes	changes in blood flow

While Reading

Which Word?

Strike through the incorrect word in each of the pairs in bold.

Study Suggests Laughter Is Good for the Heart

Have you herd / heard the old saying that laughter is the best / worst medicine? Then listen to this. Seriously, research has already shown that mental stress can restrict blood flow to the heart. But now a study has linked laughter to increased blood flow. Laughter appears to cause the tissue inside blood vessels to expand. As a result, laughing may be important to lessen / reduce the risk of heart disease.

So / Such says Doctor Michael Miller of the University of Maryland Medical Center. He led a study of twenty men and women, all healthy. To get them to laugh, they watched part of the movie "Kingpin," a nineteen ninety-six comedy. To create the identical / opposite emotions, they watched the opening battle in the nineteen ninety-eight war movie "Saving Private Ryan."

The researchers used ultrasound technology to measure changes in blood flow through an artery / archery in the arm.

Blood flow decreased in fourteen of the twenty people after they watched "Saving Private Ryan." The decrease / decreased was an average of thirty-five percent.

Studies have shown that stress can reduce the body's ability to fight disease. When the body is under / over stress, it produces hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol. Cortisol is related to fear; adrenalin prepares the body to react. But too much of these hormones can be harmful.

Doctor Miller noted that the study could not explain how laughter is responsible for the effects reserved / observed. Do the effects come from the movement of muscles, or from a chemical release?

The researchers say laughter may cause the body to release pleasure chemicals, just as when a person exercises. Doctor Miller says these endorphins may block / increase the effect of stress hormones and cause the blood vessels to expand. Laughter may also influence the release of nitric oxide, which too expands blood / bleeding passages.

The results were presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology. Doctor Miller does not advise / advice people to replace exercise with laughter. But, based on the results, he does suggest fifteen minutes of laughter each day.

Speaking

Laughter Advice: Imagine you are an expert in laughter therapy. You believe people should laugh as often as they can every day.

In pairs / groups, discuss how the following person might change her lifestyle and laugh more. Parts of her present lifestyle are written in the left column.

Write two sources of stress she might experience in the middle column and your recommendations to reduce these and increase laughter in the right column.

Present Lifestyle	Potential stress	Recommendations
Listens to the world news while eating breakfast.	1. 2.
Drives 35 km to work through the city.	1. 2.
Works as a high school teacher.	1. 2.
Eats lunch alone in McDonalds.	1. 2.
Visits her in-laws after work.	1. 2.
Marks students' homework before going to bed.	1. 2.

Change partners. Show each other your ideas and provide feedback on how to make them better.
Discuss whether you would follow the above recommendations in your own life.
Return to your original partners. Talk about the feedback you received and revise your original recommendations.
Find new partners and make presentations of your ideas. Be prepared to answer questions from your new partners.
Discuss how you could change your life to laugh more.

Listening Gap

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Study Suggests Laughter Is Good for the Heart

Have you heard the old _______ that laughter is the best medicine? Then listen to this. Seriously, research has already shown that mental stress can _________ blood flow to the heart. But now a study has linked laughter to increased blood flow. Laughter appears to cause the tissue inside blood vessels to expand. ___ __ ______, laughing may be important to reduce the risk of heart disease.

___ _____ Doctor Michael Miller of the University of Maryland Medical Center. He led a study of twenty men and women, all healthy. To get them to laugh, they watched ____ __ ___ _____ "Kingpin," a nineteen ninety-six comedy. To create the opposite emotions, they watched the opening battle in the nineteen ninety-eight war movie "Saving Private Ryan."

The researchers used ultrasound technology to measure changes in blood flow through an artery __ ____ ____.

Blood flow increased in nineteen of the twenty people after they watched "Kingpin." The increase was an average of twenty-two percent. Doctor Miller says that is similar to the ________ of aerobic exercise.

Blood flow decreased in fourteen of the twenty people after they watched "Saving Private Ryan." The decrease was ___ _______ ___ thirty-five percent.

Studies have shown that stress can reduce the body's ability to fight disease. When the body is under stress, it produces hormones ______ ___ adrenalin and cortisol. Cortisol is related to fear; adrenalin prepares the body to react. But too much of these hormones can be harmful.

Doctor Miller noted that the study could not explain how laughter is responsible ___ ___ _______ observed. Do the effects come from the movement of muscles, or from a chemical release?

The researchers say laughter may cause the body to release pleasure chemicals, _____ ___ _____ a person exercises. Doctor Miller says these endorphins may block the effect of stress hormones and cause the blood vessels to expand. Laughter may also _________ the release of nitric oxide, which too expands blood passages.

The _______ were presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology. Doctor Miller does not advise people to replace exercise with laughter. But, based on the results, he does suggest fifteen minutes of laughter each day.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk.

Homework

1. Vocabulary Extensioin: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google's search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. Internet: Search the Internet and find more information on laughter and health. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. Laughter Advice: Write a health guideline explaining how people can add more laughter to their everyday lives. Show your guidelines to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

4. Personal Research: Monitor your laughter for one day. Write down in a notebook all of the times you laughed, for how long and why. Discuss your findings with your classmates in your next lesson. Were you all equally happy?

Answers

1. True / False:

2. Phrase Match:

a.	the old saying that laughter is	the best medicine
b.	a study has linked	laughter to increased blood flow
c.	He led a	study of twenty men and women
d.	technology to measure	changes in blood flow
e.	similar to the effects of	aerobic exercise
f.	Blood flow decreased	in fourteen of the twenty people
g.	stress can reduce the body's	ability to fight disease
h.	But too much of these hormones	can be harmful
i.	the study could not explain	how laughter is responsible
j.	he does suggest fifteen minutes	of laughter each day

This is part of Creating ESL/EFL Lessons Based on News and Current Events.

The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XI, No. 9, September 2005
http://iteslj.org/

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Banville-News/Banville-Laughter.html