ReviewCurrent research in physiology2021
Laughter therapy: A humor-induced hormonal intervention to reduce stress and anxiety.
Review in Current research in physiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06996340 (Effects of White Noise on Pain, Anxiety and Comfort During in Invitro Fertilization), which is not on this map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Effects of White Noise on Pain, Anxiety and Comfort During in Invitro Fertilization: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 95 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of Laughter Therapy on Improving Negative Emotions Associated with Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Oncology · 2024Pooled it
- Laughter Exercise for Symptomatic Improvement in Dry Eye Following Cataract Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Trial
- Effect of laughter exercise versus 0.1% sodium hyaluronic acid on ocular surface discomfort in dry eye disease: non-inferiority randomised controlled trial.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Trial
- Trial
- The Effects of Laughter Yoga on Perceived Stress, Positive Psychological Capital, and Exercise Capacity in Lung Cancer Chemotherapy Patients: A Pilot Randomized Trial.Integrative cancer therapiesTrial
- Social physical activity and sedentary behaviour as key determinants of humour expression and loneliness in older adults: a cross-sectional study using bayesian variable selection approach.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Stress-reducing effect of laughter in live comedy performance from salivary α-amylase and salivary oxytocin.BMC research notes · 2025Article
- The Mediating Role of Humor in Relation With COVID-19 Fear, Anxiety and Depression of Bangladeshi People: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Healing Hearts with Humor: The Potential of Laughter Therapy in Cardiac Rehabilitation.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2025Article
- Regulation of autonomic nervous system by acupuncture: a heart rate variability study on physical stress.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Relationship between client laughter and session outcomes in metaverse counseling.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- Tickle fetishism: pleasure beyond playfulness.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- A structured laughter yoga therapy program on patients with chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: A randomized clinical trial.Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing · 2024Article
- Enhancing Subjective Wellbeing in Older Individuals with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Trial of a Positive Psychology Intervention.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The web of laughter: frontal and limbic projections of the anterior cingulate cortex revealed by cortico-cortical evoked potential from sites eliciting laughter.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- The effect of laughter therapy on nursing students' anxiety, satisfaction with life, and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: Randomized controlled study.Advances in integrative medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Prolonged pharmacological interventions have detrimental health consequences by developing drug tolerance or drug resistance, in addition to adverse drug events. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic-related stress has adversely affected the emotional and mental health aspects around the globe. Consequently, depression is growing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides specific pharmacological interventions, which if prolonged have detrimental health consequences, non-pharmacological interventions are needed to minimize the emotional burden related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Laughter therapy is a universal non-pharmacologic approach to reduce stress and anxiety. Therapeutic laughter is a non-invasive, cost-effective, and easily implementable intervention that can be used during this pandemic as a useful supplementary therapy to reduce the mental health burden. Laughter therapy can physiologically lessen the pro-stress factors and increase the mood-elevating anti-stress factors to reduce anxiety and depression. In this ongoing stressful period of the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping necessary social distancing, it is important to create a cheerful environment that will facilitate laughter among the family, neighbor, and community to cope with the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.