Watching a stand-up, watching a comedy, or just laughing with your friends might be the healthiest thing you can do this weekend.
That’s because laughter has been shown to lower your blood sugar levels – which could well be very high compared to the Easter chocolate party.
For many people, gorging on chocolate will result in a burst of energy, even feeling jittery or lightheaded.
It’s the result of injecting sugar into our bloodstream, giving us that blood sugar spike, which is usually followed by an energy crash.
As well as making us feel tired and hungry, repeated sugar spikes and crashes have been linked to a range of health problems, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease, and can lead to pre-diabetes and possibly to type 2 diabetes.
Laughter has been shown to lower your blood sugar – which could be very high during the chocolate Easter holiday
“When we eat anything, especially something like an Easter egg that has a lot of sugar in it, it causes blood sugar levels to rise rapidly,” says Dr. Nicky Keay, hormone expert and honorary lecturer in medicine at the University College London.
Insulin is released to lower blood sugar by helping sugar leave the bloodstream and enter cells in the body so it can be used for energy. It also signals the liver to store glucose for later use.
“However, you can make insulin’s job easier by doing things that will help get glucose levels back into the healthy range quickly,” she says.
“Exercise is known to be one of those actions because active muscles need glucose to produce energy. We use muscles to laugh, so laughter has a blood sugar lowering effect.
A Japanese study confirms that laughter can be the best medicine when you have overdone it with sweet things.
In 2003, Dr. Keiko Hayashi of the University of Tsukuba gave two groups of volunteers, some with diabetes and some without, the same meal and then had them watch a 40-minute lecture. They then repeated the process but this time watching a 40-minute comedy.
Their blood sugar levels were tested after both activities and they found that both groups had significantly lower blood sugar levels after the comedy show compared to after the lecture.
Why is that? “Laughter can demand more muscle energy,” says Dr. Keay, author of Hormones, Health and Human Potential: A Guide to Understanding Your Hormones to Optimize Your Health and Performance.
“Our mood can also affect blood sugar control – we know that stress raises blood sugar, so the reverse could apply.”
And, as if we needed any more excuses for laughs – splitting your sides might be good for your heart, too.
“Laughter lowers stress hormones. Stress raises cortisol, which raises blood sugar, speeds heart rate, constricts blood vessels, and raises blood pressure as part of the “fight or flight” response.
“All of these responses increase the risk of long-term cardiovascular disease. But being happy and laughing have exactly opposite physiological effects.
“Therefore, laughter could help reduce the risk of heart disease, angina pectoris and stroke. Laughter can also aid circulation and could be helpful for patients with diabetic neuropathy (when nerves are damaged), one of the complications of diabetes.
“According to a study by the Institute of Psychiatry in London, being sad limits blood circulation, while laughter encourages blood vessels to function normally,” she adds.
So if you have type 2 diabetes, what should you do?
“To begin with, type 2 is best treated with a healthy diet and regular exercise to encourage weight loss in obese or overweight people,” says Dr Anand Velusamy, consultant endocrinologist at London Bridge Hospital, which is part of HCA Healthcare UK.
“Monitoring blood sugar is also advised, particularly with a three-month average blood sugar test called HbA1c.
“The drug metformin is commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes because it helps the body maintain healthy blood sugar levels and by improving native insulin sensitivity.
“Insulin therapy is used if blood sugar levels become difficult to control despite taking tablets or temporarily to achieve rapid blood sugar control.
“If you have symptoms of type 2 diabetes, including increased urination, thirst, exhaustion, and irritability, you should talk to your doctor about having your blood sugar tested.”
