Is Laughter or Exercise Better to Relieve Stress?

By David Granirer

Is your boss looming over your shoulder watching you? Is your company under­going significant changes which you find overwhelming? While you can’t always control your stressful work environment, there are ways to manage your levels of stress so that it doesn’t lead to mental and physical exhaustion, illness and disease. What is the best way to relieve anxiety: exercise, listening to music, or having a laugh? Researchers at Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham decided to find out. They tested 20 women four times at weekly intervals, exposing them to 20-minute treatments of stationary cycling, watching a funny video, listening to New-Age music, and just sitting quietly.

It turns out that watching a funny video decreased total mood disturbance (TMD) slightly more than did the exercise or the New-Age music, which some people might claim puts them into a comatose state! The New-Age music was also slightly more effective at decreasing TMD than was the exercise.

So it seems there are passive behaviours that give the same psychological benefits as aerobic exercise.

As a matter of fact, according to a study published in the Journal of Sports Psychology, activities we enjoy create more effective changes in our mood than activities we don’t enjoy. Enjoyment, rather than the specific activity seems to be the key here. So if you hate running, chances are that it won’t do much to lessen your total mood disturbance, whereas doing something you consider fun (and what could be more fun than laughing?) will.

This might explain why some stress management techniques like visualization and deep breathing don’t work for certain people. Some of us, this author concluded, just don’t enjoy being forced to picture ourselves hugging our inner child in a meadow full of love and white light. But give us a chance to laugh and we’re having the time of our lives, not to mention managing our stress in a productive way.

But back to the exercise thing. The Nottingham Trent University researchers caution that given its well-documented physical benefits, exercise should still be the intervention of choice. But more passive activities like laughing and listening to music are now scientifically proven to be great add-ons to an effective stress-management regime.

Source: Adapted from Get More Laughter, volume 6, issue 9. 

David Granirer gives laughter in the workplace presentations to hundreds of organizations across North America. For information call the National Speakers Bureau at (800) 661-4110 or visit www.psychocomic.com.

Article originally published in Volume 8-1 of Your Workplace magazine