Comedy, Laughter and Mental Health: An Evidence-Informed Perspective

April Thompson
2 days ago
4 min read

Comedy and humour are frequently positioned as entertainment rather than intervention. Within mental health and wellbeing discourse, they are often viewed as peripheral, enjoyable, but not essential. However, an expanding body of research across psychology, neuroscience and medicine suggests that laughter and humour play a substantive role in stress regulation, emotional processing, and social connection.

This article outlines the current evidence base supporting comedy and laughter as valuable components within community-based mental health and social prescribing contexts.

Physiological Effects of Laughter on Stress and Regulation

Laughter produces measurable physiological changes associated with stress reduction and emotional regulation.

A 2023 systematic review published in BMJ Open examined the effects of laughter on cortisol levels across multiple experimental and observational studies. The review found that spontaneous laughter was associated with significant reductions in cortisol, in some cases by approximately 30%. Cortisol is a primary stress hormone, and elevated levels are associated with chronic stress, anxiety, depression, immune dysregulation and burnout. These findings suggest that laughter may play a role in moderating physiological stress responses.

Earlier neuroendocrine research by Berk et al. (1989) demonstrated that mirthful laughter reduces levels of cortisol, epinephrine and growth hormone, while increasing endorphin release. Endorphins are associated with improved mood and pain modulation, providing a physiological explanation for laughter’s temporary analgesic and mood-enhancing effects.

Together, these findings indicate that laughter activates parasympathetic nervous system pathways, supporting recovery from prolonged sympathetic (fight-or-flight) activation, a pattern commonly observed in individuals experiencing chronic stress or mental ill-health.

Humour as Cognitive and Emotional Regulation

From a psychological perspective, humour functions as a form of cognitive reappraisal, the process of reframing experiences to alter their emotional impact.

Research published in Cognition and Emotion shows that humour-based reappraisal can reduce negative emotional intensity without suppressing emotional experience. This distinction is important, as emotional suppression has been associated with increased psychological distress and poorer mental health outcomes.

More recent theoretical work in Frontiers in Psychology conceptualises humour through a “play-mirth” framework. In this model, individuals temporarily reinterpret threatening or distressing material as non-threatening, allowing emotional flexibility while preserving emotional truth. Rather than avoiding difficult experiences, humour enables engagement with them in a way that feels manageable and contained.

In applied settings, this helps explain why humour is frequently used, both informally and therapeutically, to engage with topics such as illness, trauma, grief, identity and social marginalisation, particularly when traditional clinical language may feel inaccessible or stigmatising.

Social Connection, Belonging and Shared Laughter

Social isolation is a well-established risk factor for poor mental health and is a central concern within social prescribing frameworks. Comedy and laughter are inherently social phenomena, with evidence suggesting they play a meaningful role in strengthening interpersonal bonds.

Shared laughter has been shown to increase trust, group cohesion, and feelings of belonging, activating neural pathways associated with social reward and attachment. Health organisations including the Mayo Clinic and Stanford Lifestyle Medicine highlight laughter’s role in improving group dynamics, fostering emotional safety, and strengthening social connection, all of which are protective factors for mental wellbeing.

In community contexts, comedy can create spaces where individuals feel able to engage without formal diagnosis, clinical framing, or mandatory disclosure. This is particularly relevant for people who may be reluctant to access traditional mental health services, or who benefit from low-intensity, preventative and socially embedded interventions.

Importantly, the benefits of shared laughter do not depend on performance skill or comedic expertise. Rather, they emerge from participation, recognition and shared experience.

Relevance to Social Prescribing and Community Mental Health

Comedy is not a replacement for clinical treatment, psychological therapy, or medication where these are required. However, the evidence supports its value as a complementary, low-barrier wellbeing intervention, particularly within social prescribing and community mental health models.

Laughter and humour have been shown to:

Reduce physiological stress responses.
Support emotional regulation through cognitive reappraisal.
Strengthen social connection and reduce isolation.
Enable engagement without clinical language or stigma.

These characteristics align closely with social prescribing priorities, including prevention, self-management, confidence building, and connection to community assets. Comedy-based programmes can offer accessible entry points into wellbeing support, particularly for individuals who may not engage with traditional services.

Conclusion

The assumption that comedy is “just entertainment” is not supported by current evidence. Laughter is a biologically active, psychologically meaningful and socially connective experience with clear relevance to mental health and wellbeing.

Comedy does not trivialise distress. It offers an alternative and often more accessible, way of engaging with it.

As demand for mental health support continues to rise, evidence-informed, community-based approaches that centre connection, regulation, and emotional honesty deserve serious consideration within both academic research and applied practice.

References

Berk, L. S., Tan, S. A., Fry, W. F., Napier, B. J., Lee, J. W., Hubbard, R. W., Lewis, J. E., & Eby, W. C. (1989). Neuroendocrine and stress hormone changes during mirthful laughter. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 298(6), 390–396.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2556917/

Kramer, M. S., Van der Wal, C. N., & Kok, R. N. (2023). Laughter as medicine: A systematic review and meta-analysis of laughter interventions on stress and health outcomes. BMJ Open, 13(6), e069901. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10204943/

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2023). Stress relief from laughter. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456

Samson, A. C., & Gross, J. J. (2012). Humour as emotion regulation: The differential consequences of negative versus positive humour. Cognition and Emotion, 26(2), 375–384. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2011.585069

Savage, B. M., Lujan, H. L., Thipparthi, R. R., & DiCarlo, S. E. (2017). Humor, laughter, learning, and health! A brief review. Advances in Physiology Education, 41(3), 341–347. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00030.2017

Stanford Lifestyle Medicine. (2022). The health benefits of laughter. Stanford Medicine. https://lifestylemedicine.stanford.edu/laughter-health-benefits/

Warren, C., McGraw, A. P., & Van Boven, L. (2024). Play-mirth theory: A cognitive framework for understanding humour. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1473742. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1473742/full

Yim, J. E. (2016). Therapeutic benefits of laughter in mental health: A theoretical review. The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine, 239(3), 243–249. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27439375/