Watching funny movie best for heart

Ha-ha-ha! Laughter really seems to be the best medicine, for a new study has found that watching a funny flick that makes you giggle is good for your heart. Researchers have claimed that watching a movie or even a programme that produces laughter indeed has a positive effect on vascular function and is opposite to that observed after watching a war or horror film that causes mental stress.

 In the study, volunteers watched segments of a funny film-- such as 'There's Something About Mary' -- on one day and on another day watched the opening segment of the stressful war film 'Saving Private Ryan'.

 Lead researcher Dr Michael Miller of the University of Maryland said that when the volunteers watched the stressful film, their blood vessel lining developed a potentially unhealthy response, vasoconstriction, reducing blood flow. The researchers said that this finding confirms previous studies which suggested there was a link between mental stress and the narrowing of blood vessels. However, after watching the funny movie, the blood vessel lining expanded.

  Overall, more than 300 measurements were made with a 30 to 50 per cent difference in blood vessel diameter between the laughter and mental stress phases. Dr Miller said: "The take-home message here is  that laughter is great for your heart. The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium after laughing was consistent and similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic exercise of statin use."