Cracking up with laughter has similar effects on the body as a gym workout, a study has shown.
Sessions of mirth - dubbed 'Laughercise' - enhance mood, reduce stress hormones, boost the immune system and lower blood pressure and levels of 'bad' cholesterol, say researchers.
And like physical exercise, they also appear to stimulate appetite, offering a potential way to help malnourished patients who are off their food.
Californian scientist Dr Lee Berk said the effects of laughter mirrored those of repetitive exercise.
Volunteers watched two 20-minute videos - one distressing and one humorous. There was a week between viewings to ensure the effects did not overlap.
The researchers measured blood pressure and levels of two appetite hormones, leptin and ghrelin.
Similar effects are seen straight after moderate physical exercise, and are accompanied by an increase in appetite.
Dr Berk said: 'The value of the research is that it may provide healthcare providers with new insights and understandings, and thus further options for patients who cannot use physical activity to normalise or enhance their appetite.'
Many elderly patients suffer from 'wasting' due to reduced appetite as a result of depression and lack of physical activity.
Such patients may be able to use 'Laughercise' to help them regain their appetite, say the scientists.
A similar loss of appetite is often seen in elderly patients after the death of a spouse, and people in chronic pain.
Dr Berk added: 'It's fascinating that positive emotions resulting from behaviours such as music playing or singing, and now mirthful laughter, translate into so many types of biological mechanism optimisations.
'As the old biblical wisdom states, it may be true that laughter is a good medicine.'
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