laughter heals a weakened heart
medical research shows that laughter is actually, measurably good for us (other medicines are available)
Look at me having a laff on the landline!
So the good news is in (for the nth time) - laughter is the best a good medicine if you have heart problems, maybe?!
The Guardian brings us the news that:
A study has demonstrated that having a chuckle causes the tissue inside the heart to expand – and increases oxygen flow around the body.
Patients with coronary artery disease who engaged in a course of laughter therapy had reduced inflammation and better health, the research found.
“Our study found that laughter therapy increased the functional capacity of the cardiovascular system,” said the lead author, Prof Marco Saffi, of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre in Brazil.
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Amsterdam, the world’s largest heart conference.
Isn’t that great? I love to find a bit of good news in amongst all the horror that filters through my timeline every day, and this is real, science-backed stuff. Gorgeous!
Quick break for life-affirming lols:
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Welcome back. I was so moved by this latest investigation into how good laughter is for us (I mean, the study is tiny but it’s being presented “at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Amsterdam, the world’s largest heart conference,” which is impressive! Maybe the medical research community / people who organise clinical trial funding need to take this area more seriously and pay for larger, more statistically-relevant trials? Just a thought from a lil comedian with no medical training), that I brought it onto this week’s episode of The Week Unwrapped podcast.
As I say on the pod, this news has been broken periodically since time immemorial, but as Google only goes back 20 years, I can only dust off a Washington Post piece from 2003:
It Helps, Even If You Fake It - The Washington Post
By Richard Morin
March 30, 2003
The news is grim these days, so we all could use a good laugh…
Oh Richard Morrin, honey, you had no idea how much worse the next 20 years would get!! We were all so innocent in 2003.
More lols:
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Hopefully reading this newsletter has already given you a little lol workout…
Of course, the latest laughter therapy trial is great news, and it also plays directly into my live show, Doomscrolling. Once I had that title in place, it became clear to me that this how needed to be a ‘clinic’, to make the most of the live setting and the audience, to deep-dive into doomscrolling without letting them use their phones, and to ultimately make to clear the goal that I always have for my hour-long shows, and make explicit to the audience: I want them to feel better about the facet of human psychology dissected in the show that is usually seen as just 100% bad.
So in my first show I Miss Amy Winehouse, I am trying to find something positive in grieving, although that wouldn’t be a very sensitive way to put it, so instead I hit upon the idea of finding solutions to missing someone. I was utterly delighted when one of the firt reviews came in, and not only was it 4 stars, but it also said:
Chakrabarti has a natural incredibly grounded stage presence and was clearly meant to perform. This show isn’t like most other grief shows, in the sense that it talks about happy grief and leaves you with a smile on your face.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
With no acting background amd only 1.5 years in stand-up (if doing online gigs during the pandemic counts? If not, then about 0.5 years in stand-up…), I was a bit insecure about the performance side of things, so this review just really got me and bolstered me.
This time around with Doomscrolling, the idea is that I want to make people feel better about how we’re coping with all this sped-up news and content being thrown at us. The media narrative around this subject tends towards self-blame, but I think it’s more about the tech we carry about with us being optimised to satisfy out psychological needs to know about all of the things, to be fed information and entertainment and to keep on top of what’s going on in the world. Mass access to the internet gave us access to all the knowledge in the world, and from the past, and possibly about the future too, and we want to eat it all up, of coure we do, but then we feel bad when we’re too full and can’t sleep. But that’s just the human condition. It’s the same as it ever was. Imagine what the printing press did to our ancestors. The novel. Bebo.com.
A little clip from a sold-out performance of the show at VAULT Festival, February 2023:
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We really are just doing our best, with our little minds and lizard brains and the ultraconnectedness of the world; and yet, with all this knowledge at our fingertips, isn’t it the best time of all to be alive, so far in history? I’m leaning towards yes in the show!
Another clip from Doomscrolling, as Prince Harry is back where he belongs, on Netflix / trending on Twitter (to be clear, I think that this is a cruel hashtag):
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So now, to my delight, I’ve got to work in this new headline about laughter being good for us into the show. This pernnial news story / proverb aching to come true could not have re-srufaced at a better time for me. Same goes for Prince Harry’s new Netflix doc. Add in a third thing here. Evidence that a doomscroll can become a joyscroll in a moment.
I’ve got a little WIP of Doomscrolling tonight in Camden at the Et Cetera if you fancy it. Lots more dates coming up - details below.
Links
No link, just drinking this in every day like it’s my morning coffee:
My thoughts are with the late poet Gboyega Odubanjo’s loved ones; what a sad, sudden and terrible loss:
The first post-Ed-Fringe banger of a show I’m going to see is Ben Target’s Lorenzo at Soho Theatre
I am eating up Series 3 of Only Murders in the Building, and just look at Steve Martin Short being adorable on SNL!
https://twitter.com/carlquintanilla/status/1697322225513181309
What I’ve been up to / will be getting up to
I’m part of the London Podcast Festival’s Podmaker Weekend, talking about comedy podcasts with the multi-award-winning podcaster River Scott, at 10am on Sat 16th Sept, last few tickets left
Always nice to pop up in Camdenist’s newsletter (my favourite hyperlocal London site, even though I moved out of the borough in 2022), and I’m enjoying the filename on that collage, doom2 (the actual photo is by Rebecca Need-Menear)
Here are those autumn Doomscrolling dates, more to come no doubt (links and info below):
7pm, 7th Sept: 2Northdown
5:30pm, 19th Sept: The Bill Murray
5pm, 30th Sept: Bread & Roses, Clapham Fringe
7pm, 11th Oct: Fierce Bar, Women in Comedy Festival, Manchester
More to follow…
I’m really enjoying making this show, come along and help me shape it! It’s funny and good for you (although please always remember that I am not a medical profesional).
That’s all for this installment, thank you for reading x