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.  

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Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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