Psychoneuroimmunology. It’s a big word.
Psycho-neuro-immunology examines the complex interactions and communications between the brain, peripheral nervous system, the endocrine/hormone, immune systems, and behavior. At Loma Linda University, Lee S. Berk, DrPH, MPH, and his colleague Stanley A. Tan, MD, P.D, broke scientific ground with evidence-based research which substantiated a text from the Bible: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine….” Proverbs 17:22. Results were reported not only in the scientific literature, but around the world by the news media and television such as CBS 60 Minutes, ABC Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, BBC TV, CNN with Dr. Sanja Gupta, and multiple TV documentaries.
In one study Dr. Berk and Dr. Tan determined that mirthful laughter was an effective adjunctive therapy in cardiac rehabilitation. In another study Dr. Berk and his colleague studied the effect of mirthful laughter on the immune system of two groups of volunteer medical students; both experimental and control groups. To implement the study, the experimental group preselected a 60-minute video. Over Your Head, with comedian Gallagher, recorded with a live audience, is a collection of humorous features from Gallagher’s eye-view of politicians, ancient history, childrearing, and other bizarre, true-to-life prop comedy situations.
Blood samples were drawn at precise intervals from an indwelling catheter ten minutes before viewing the tape, 30 minutes into the experiment, and 30 minutes after the tape ended. Additional sampling was acquired the next day by venipuncture, 12 hours after the initiation of the experiment. Blood samples also were drawn at the same intervals from the control group who sat in comfortable chairs, looking at mundane magazines placed on the table in front of them.
Loma Linda scientists found that mirthful laughter optimized the immune system’s activity by increasing the number and activity of natural killer cells (the cells that attack viruses and various tumor cells), increasing the antibody immunoglobulin A (which protects the upper respiratory tact), increases gamma interferon (which helps regulate different components of the immune system), and increases immunoglobulin G and Complement C’3, (which help antibodies pierce dysfunctional or infected cells). Their research also demonstrated that stress hormones—which actually constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity—decrease in the body as a result of mirthful or happy laughter.
Further research demonstrated that anticipation and expectation of a one-hour experience of mirthful or joyful laughter, in the form of viewing an enjoyable humorous video, evokes significant increases in positive mood states such as vigor prior to the actual viewing of the video and significant decreases in negative mood states such as depression, fatigue, anger, and anxiety, which provided new insights into the psychobiology of anticipation/expectation.
In subsequent research, they also discovered that benefits resulting from anticipation of a positive/optimistic experience decreased detrimental stress hormones and increased beta-endorphin levels prior to the actual experience. Dr. Berk called it, “support for the concept that there may indeed be biology to the construct of hope, in other words, a biology of hope.”
Studies further confirmed the fact that the biological effects of a single one-hour session of viewing a humorous video can last from 12 to 24 hours, while other studies of daily 30-minute exposure to such humor/laughter videos produce profound and long-lasting positive changes to the immune system.
Dr. Berk’s research has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, such as the Canadian Journal of Cardiology and the American Journal of the Medical Sciences. It has also been published by magazines including Time, Reader’s Digest, Newsweek, Parade, Men’s Health, Glamour, Self, Parenting, Family Circle, Redbook, Seventeen, and Women’s Day as well as magazine in Europe and Asia. It also appeared in newspapers across America i.e. New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal On-Line, etc.
A number of programs at Loma Linda University Medical Center—including several for cancer patients—resulted from these findings, including a Laughter Library for patients. Audiovisual Communications has begun offering more comical programming on the Medical Center’s patient television stations as a result of Dr. Berk’s research.
To enhance and apply these discoveries, Dr. Berk collaborated with Barry Bittman, M.D., to develop a humor profile called SMILE (Subjective Multidimensional Interactive Laughter Evaluation), which is based on the idea that each person has a different humor preference. SMILE participants answer a few easy questions about how they feel and what types of humor they enjoy, and then receive what Dr. Berk calls a “humor prescription”—a detailed list of suggested reading materials, videotapes, and audiotapes that a person might enjoy.
In one of his summaries, Dr. Berk provided perspective: “Although limited in sample size due to the complexity of experimental logistics and cost constraints, these studies require further research to fully elucidate mirthful laughter’s effects on the specific components and the composite immune response. The changes in the indices measured are consistent and compelling enough to suggest that the humor-associated interventions of mirthful laughter may be capable of immunomodulation via specific neuroendocrine and neuroimmune parameters. Indeed, mirthful laughter and the associated eustress emotions may be the intuition and music of the soul that confirms the biblical wisdom that “A merry heart doeth good as a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
In our new stress research studies with music playing, we have found that music has the ability to modulate or change mRNA gene expression which shows that the benefits of music start at the genomic level in dealing with stress reduction.
Dr. Berk easily relates his research to Loma Linda University’s Motto, “To Make Man Whole: We’re more aware that there is a significant relationship between the mind and the body. Now medical science is starting to recognize with substantial scientific support what we as an institution were well aware of many years ago—the true right and benefit of whole-person care.”