Laughter can get you almost high, new study says

Laughter can get you high, a new study says. It gives the brain the same kind of "high" as heroin or strong painkillers while endorphins increase pain tolerance levels.

Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar of Oxford University led the research conducted in both the lab and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In the lab, study participants were subject to various painful stimuli—a tightening blood pressure buff, a frozen sleeve placed around the arm, or a strenuous ski exercise—before and after exposure to comedy. The Fringe Festival experiment used people who either watched or participated in comedic performances.

Researchers found that viewing or participating in comedy helped people develop higher pain thresholds. It was dose-related and especially effective within social settings: those who laughed the most felt less pain. Surprisingly, the study found that laughter itself, not just the positive experience of watching a comedy, seemed to bring pain relief. The muscular exertions involved in an audible laugh "trigger an increase in endorphins, the brain chemicals known for their feel-good effect," The New York Times reports. At the same time, dramas and other non-comedic shows had no effect on participants' abilities to withstand pain.

The "Social laughter is correlated with an elevated pain threshold" study has been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.