A laugh a day to keep doctors at bay?

CHENNAI: Laughter, they say, is the best medicine. Though your average physician could dispute that quite effectively, it would take more than that to dissuade this particular group from that belief. The Laughter Club of Marina Beach has been meeting every day without a break for the last decade, and members believe firmly that their good health is a direct result of their laughter yoga. “When we started there were very few people,” recalls Gautam Khariwal, one of the founding members of this Chennai chapter of the Laughter Club International. Now when they the club meets every morning on Chennai’s favourite beach at 6 am, there are close to 30 people on weekdays while the number touches 40 on weekends. Most of them are excited about next Sunday being World Laughter Day.Without a doubt, anyone who passes a group of people laughing mechanically and flailing their arms in a public space will consider it strange. But over the years the group has grown on the Marina’s walkers. “Initially, I thought they were crazy. But observing them over the course of two years, I noticed that they were enjoying themselves and seemed to be physically and socially fit,” marvels Varadhu, a businessman who walks on the beach every day. There are similar clubs that meet every morning at Nungambakkam, Mylapore, Besant Nagar and Anna Nagar.“It’s not just sedentary laughing. There’s a lot of discipline and we have some exercises that we carry out to keep ourselves fit,” explains Gautam, “The only criterion is that we do not miss laughing out loud for 20 minutes every morning,” he adds. Weight loss, improved circulation and lung capacity, energy, better luck and even hair growth have been seen among members, it seems.Clinically, there hasn’t been too much credible research to show that laughter can better health or mental status, “Laughing genuinely can help improve your social relations and the way people relate to you, but that’s about it,” says Dr N Rangarajan, consultant psychiatrist at Fortis Malar Hospitals, “You just can’t quantify laughter to measure how much good it does a person,” he adds. The only medical advantage of people meeting in groups and laughing out loud is that they take the effort to wake up early, walk and do some form of exercise that they might not have done otherwise. “Just saying ha-ha-ha isn’t really going to help. Actual laughter in response to something that you find funny is the only thing that’s good,” he says. Fancy a LOL-i-pop anyway?