Vanderbilt study finds laughter burns more calories

• Give in to that urge and have a hearty laugh, for you might just be kicking out a few calories when you do so.
• American researchers have found that 10-15 minutes of laughing out loud has the potential of burning out as much calories as is contained in a medium bar of chocolate.
• Scientists from the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, sealed off about 45 pairs of friends in a room scientifically known as a metabolic chamber.
• They then played comedy clips on a TV screen and measured the amount of energy generated by the laughter.
• Lead researcher, Maciej Buchowski, director of bionutrition at Vanderbilt, said, "We didn't tell them that the goal of the study was to measure laughter, because then they might have forced it.
• The scientists measured the energy released by noting the differences between the amount of oxygen inhaled and the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled.
• This also allowed the scientists to calculate whether laughter used more energy or not.
• The researchers also fitted heart rate monitors to the volunteers since heart rate tends to respond to changes more quickly than breathing does.
• They also asked the volunteers not to talk or move, but just watch what was unfolding on the screens before them.
• "First it was half an hour of something boring -- an English landscape.
• Around 2,000 delegates from 80 countries attended the four-day European Congress on Obesity that is slated to end on Saturday.
• While it is obvious that laughter alone cannot tackle the epidemic of obesity that is looming large in developed countries, it is noteworthy that laughing can indeed burn more calories.
• Besides providing relief from the day-to-day stressful situations, laughter can also speed up your metabolism.