Could laughter be effective at curing dry eye?
BOSTON - If you suffer from dry eye, laughter may be just what the doctor ordered.
Dry eye affects about 360 million people worldwide and causes eye redness, irritation, and discomfort. It's commonly treated with lubricant eye drops, but according to a new study in The BMJ, laughter exercise could be just as effective.
Researchers in China and the UK studied more than 280 people and randomly assigned them to receive either laughter exercise or eye drops four times a day for eight weeks. Laugher exercise involved having participants repeat the phrases "Hee hee hee, hah hah hah, cheese cheese cheese, cheek cheek cheek, hah hah hah hah hah hah" 30 times per five-minute session. They found that the laughter exercise was no less effective than eye drops, and the laughter group also had improved mental health scores.