Dec 3, 2010 Heather Donaldson
Laughter is Powerful Medicine - Heather Donaldson
“LaughItOff” - trialled the use of laughter therapy for weight loss. I was working as a community educator and meeting people daily who were struggling with their weight, trying program after (often expensive) program, losing then gaining again, becoming depressed, and finally giving up. We decided to try something different.
“LaughItOff” was run over ten weeks at our local community health centre. There were only ten participants accepted into the pilot course and anyone was welcome to apply.
The Course Was Different From Other Weight Loss Courses
The course differed from other weight loss courses in that there were no scales or weighing, no counting of calories, no humiliation……
It encouraged healthy eating, exercise and a positive outlook through humour, information, discussion and support.
Above all, it was fun !
The decision to have no scales and no weighing was deliberate. Scales can be meaningless because, as we exercise and lose weight, we gain muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat.
Scales are not the only way to measure success in a weight loss program. Body shape often changes, clothes may become looser, with little change on the scales. Nobody has a truly stable weight, and individual weight can vary by hundreds of grams each day. We reminded participants that it is easy to swing from depression to false joy using scales.
Do not measure your self worth on the scales.
There were no strict rules. Obviously they could weigh themselves if they wished, but we suggested they try and use it as rough tool only. Weight is private and no one else’s business. Everything we discussed in the group was private except those things they wished to share.
There was no humiliation, no deprivation, no starvation, no calorie counting, no portions.
We concentrated on common sense and moderation, and taking control of their own lives, health, and decisions. Joy is a powerful motivator – more so than fear. There is no use talking of living longer if someone is struggling to get through each day. Choices always work better than rules.
The Use Of Humour
We tried to stay as optimistic as possible within the group, looking for humour wherever we could. Even excess weight was seen as a gift, allowing the participants to forsee the dangers of unwise eating patterns that they might otherwise miss, and in addressing that save themselves from more serious health problems. Oneday they might even thank their weight for the gift of a longer, healthier, happier life.
It is known that laughter burns calories. Ten to fifteen minutes of giggling can burn fifty calories, so we decided that if we made a mistake, we’d laugh at it, not cry.
Laughing often during the day can stop the craving for food and it’s also been shown that people who have a good laugh for one minute before each meal, eat less at that meal, so we tried to keep happy at meal times knowing too that good spirits areessential for proper digestion.
Depression, boredom and loneliness are gigantic reasons for overeating. Laughter helps dispel these. Also stress increases cortisol, the hormone that causes the craving for food, and laughter reduces cortisol. So laughter is a powerful tool for humour, healing and weight loss. It is cheap and easy to access and it’s even legal !
And if you’re laughing you aren’t eating.
Realistic Goals and Informed Choices
We agreed that healthy weight was not necessarily skinny, and that skinny could be less healthy than fat. We are all different, so it’s wrong to put a figure on ideal weights. Healthy weight is when we reduce our health risks and feel better. So we set a plan for realistic weight loss of no more than half a kg/week. We understood that at first people might lose a bit more quickly, but that this would be mostly fluid and would soon settle into a slower pace. Studies show that gradual, slow weight loss lasts, so we asked people to be patient and allow their bodies time to adapt.
We will lose what we have to lose.
If we are careful about what we eat for 90% of the time, what happens for the other 10% will not matter so much.
Ours was a gentle course, with plenty of support and heaps of humour.
It was successful. Everyone lost weight, slowly and sustainably over a few months. We laughed a lot, we made new friendships, we became healthier and fitter, and much much happier.
Sources:
“LaughItOff” , a Weight Loss Course, Tasmania 2009
Humor versus Distress, Effect on and Appetite Hormones, Dr. Lee S. Berk, 2010 Experimental Biology conference in Anaheim, CA.
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