Laughing May Make You Smarter

Forget school, going to a comedy show will make you smarter.

A new study reveals that laughter could actually help enhance memory after researchers at Loma Linda University in California found that older people are more likely to recall something after laughing.

According to ABC News, this might be because laughter cuts stress, which negatively affects memory.

The latest study involved 40 healthy adults. Half of the participants were asked to watch a funny video for 20 minutes, while the other half were asked to sit calmly without watching a film.

Participants in both groups were then asked to perform a memory test. Researchers noted that they had collected saliva sample from participants before and after the memory test to measure levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

The findings revealed that participants who had watched the funny video scored higher in the short-term memory test than participants who were asked to sit calmly, according to the Daily Mail.

The study also found that participants in the laughing group had significantly lower levels of cortisol in their saliva compared to those in the other group.

"Learning ability and delayed recall become more challenging as we age," lead researcher Gurinder Bains told ABC News.

"Laughing with friends or even watching 20 minutes of humor on TV, as I do daily, helps me cope with my daily stressors," Bains added.

Researchers explained that people who feel less stress generally have better memories. They believe this is because laughter boosts the level of endorphins in the body and sends dopamine to the brain, which provides feelings of happiness and reward. Researchers said this then boosts memory by triggering changes in the activity of brain waves.