The Japan Times: Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007
A guffaw a day keeps the diabetes at bay
By TOSHIYUKI TANIMOTO
Kyodo News
Developing diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases is no joke,
but university researchers have come up with a unique exercise that
involves massaging the facial muscles through laughter to help relieve
stress and prevent illness.
Residents of Tsurugashima, Saitama Prefecture, engage in a 'laughing-
muscle exercise' in a citywide 'Laugh once a day' campaign
Residents of Tsurugashima, Saitama Prefecture, engage in a "laughing-
muscle exercise" in a citywide "Laugh once a day" campaign held
recently to promote public health. KYODO PHOTO
Some local governments have introduced "the laughing-muscle exercise"
developed by Keiko Hayashi, an associate professor at the University
of Tsukuba, to promote public health.
Information entering through the eyes and ears is processed in the
cerebral limbic system, which lies at the back of the cerebrum and
controls feelings.
"When information that you feel good goes to the neural circuit,
pleasure substances, such as dopamine and serotonin, are created. Then
you feel refreshed and become forward-looking, and you laugh as a
physiological phenomenon," Hayashi said.
Past studies suggest that laughing increases resistance to disease and
helps keep people fit. Hayashi carried out an experiment on about 20
diabetics in their 50s and 60s to try to determine whether laughter
had a positive effect on them.
The patients were shown videotaped comedy sessions for 40 minutes
after meals, after which Hayashi checked their blood-sugar levels and
found that they rose 77 mg on average. They had risen 123 mg on
average the previous day, when patients listened to a lecture that did
not raise a chuckle.
>From this, Hayashi concluded that a rise in blood-sugar level two
hours after meals is curbed by laughter, a fact she reported in a U.S.
diabetes magazine in 2003.
"I hit upon the idea of massaging the muscles which move in laughing,
and stimulate and activate the laughter neural circuit," Hayashi said.
"The idea is to facilitate laughter by making the laughing muscles
move better and creating a constitution that makes it easy for a
person to laugh."
In 2005, she thought up the laughing-muscle exercise jointly with
Keiko Yamauchi, a lecturer at the Nagoya University of Arts and
Sciences. The laughing muscles are chiefly around the eyes, cheekbones
and mouth, and in the exercise, the muscles are moved rhythmically by
hand.
The massaging can be done while seated, and even diabetics who cannot
do strenuous physical exercise can easily perform it. Some medical
institutions have introduced the exercise at seminars for patients.
The Tsurugashima Municipal Government in Saitama Prefecture began the
exercise in December 2005 with the slogan, "Laugh once a day," to
promote public health. In cooperation with a civic group, the city
olds sessions at public halls and facilities for the elderly.
"We thought people would be interested in getting healthy through
laughing," said Harumi Ishikawa, an official at the municipal health
center.
The city has a population of about 70,000, half of whom are over the
age of 40.
Masahiro Yoshihara, director of the health center, said, "We think we
should start preparing now for an aging society and increases in
lifestyle-related diseases in the future."
Hayashi added: "We hope people will do the exercise before exams,
interviews and conferences that make them feel tense. The exercise is
not a medical cure, but we hope we can issue a prescription for
laughing someday."
The Japan Times: Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007
Laughing for lower blood sugar 
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