The impact of laughter yoga on subjective wellbeing: A pilot study
Laughter has been associated with a number of physiological and psychological benefits. Laughter yoga (LY) is a contemporary technique that encourages participants to mimic the act of laughing, with the goal of achieving positive psychological outcomes. This paper describes an exploratory pilot stud...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies
2014-05-01
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| Series: | The European Journal of Humour Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.europeanjournalofhumour.org/index.php/ejhr/article/view/38 |
| _version_ | 1819119451045363712 |
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| author | Melissa Kate Weinberg Thomas G. Hammond Robert A. Cummins |
| author_facet | Melissa Kate Weinberg Thomas G. Hammond Robert A. Cummins |
| author_sort | Melissa Kate Weinberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Laughter has been associated with a number of physiological and psychological benefits. Laughter yoga (LY) is a contemporary technique that encourages participants to mimic the act of laughing, with the goal of achieving positive psychological outcomes. This paper describes an exploratory pilot study to evaluate the effect of a single LY class on the psychological wellbeing of people who attended such sessions voluntarily. Forty-four participants (72.7% female, Mean age = 58.86, SD = 14.12) were recruited from LY clubs around Melbourne, Australia, and completed measures of wellbeing before and after the LY class. Following the LY session, significant improvements in positive emotions and reductions in the severity of symptoms of anxiety and stress were reported. Importantly, the change in wellbeing was greatest for participants who were experiencing lower wellbeing prior to the class. These findings suggest that LY shows promise as an effective intervention to temporarily increase wellbeing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T06:04:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c786bf47f6ef4786b33155ca0efefa1c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2307-700X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T06:04:58Z |
| publishDate | 2014-05-01 |
| publisher | Cracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The European Journal of Humour Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-c786bf47f6ef4786b33155ca0efefa1c2022-12-21T18:36:26ZengCracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language StudiesThe European Journal of Humour Research2307-700X2014-05-0114253410.7592/EJHR2013.1.4.weinberg28The impact of laughter yoga on subjective wellbeing: A pilot studyMelissa Kate Weinberg0Thomas G. Hammond1Robert A. Cummins2Deakin UniversityDeakin UniversityDeakin UniversityLaughter has been associated with a number of physiological and psychological benefits. Laughter yoga (LY) is a contemporary technique that encourages participants to mimic the act of laughing, with the goal of achieving positive psychological outcomes. This paper describes an exploratory pilot study to evaluate the effect of a single LY class on the psychological wellbeing of people who attended such sessions voluntarily. Forty-four participants (72.7% female, Mean age = 58.86, SD = 14.12) were recruited from LY clubs around Melbourne, Australia, and completed measures of wellbeing before and after the LY class. Following the LY session, significant improvements in positive emotions and reductions in the severity of symptoms of anxiety and stress were reported. Importantly, the change in wellbeing was greatest for participants who were experiencing lower wellbeing prior to the class. These findings suggest that LY shows promise as an effective intervention to temporarily increase wellbeing.https://www.europeanjournalofhumour.org/index.php/ejhr/article/view/38subjective wellbeing, laughter yoga, mood |
| spellingShingle | Melissa Kate Weinberg Thomas G. Hammond Robert A. Cummins The impact of laughter yoga on subjective wellbeing: A pilot study The European Journal of Humour Research subjective wellbeing, laughter yoga, mood |
| title | The impact of laughter yoga on subjective wellbeing: A pilot study |
| title_full | The impact of laughter yoga on subjective wellbeing: A pilot study |
| title_fullStr | The impact of laughter yoga on subjective wellbeing: A pilot study |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of laughter yoga on subjective wellbeing: A pilot study |
| title_short | The impact of laughter yoga on subjective wellbeing: A pilot study |
| title_sort | impact of laughter yoga on subjective wellbeing a pilot study |
| topic | subjective wellbeing, laughter yoga, mood |
| url | https://www.europeanjournalofhumour.org/index.php/ejhr/article/view/38 |
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