PMID- 26026141
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20150910
LR  - 20150531
IS  - 1078-6791 (Print)
IS  - 1078-6791 (Linking)
VI  - 21
IP  - 3
DP  - 2015 May-Jun
TI  - Humors Effect on Short-term Memory in Healthy and Diabetic Older Adults.
PG  - 16-25
AB  - CONTEXT: With aging, the detrimental effects of stress can impair a person's 
      ability to learn and sustain memory. Humor and its associated mirthful laughter 
      can reduce stress by decreasing the hormone cortisol. Chronic release of cortisol 
      can damage hippocampal neurons, leading to impairment of learning and memory. 
      Objectives * The study intended to examine the effect of watching a humor video 
      on short-term memory in older adults. Design * The research team designed a 
      randomized, controlled trial. SETTING: The study took place at Loma Linda 
      University in Loma Linda, CA, USA. PARTICIPANTS: The study included 30 
      participants: 20 normal, healthy, older adults-11 males and 9 females-and 10 
      older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)-6 males and 4 females. 
      INTERVENTION: The study included 2 intervention groups of older adults who viewed 
      humorous videos, a healthy group (humor group), aged 69.9 +/- 3.7 y, and the 
      diabetic group, aged 67.1 +/- 3.8 y. Each participant selected 1 of 2 humorous 
      videos that were 20 min in length, either a Red Skeleton comedy or a montage of 
      America's Funniest Home Videos. The control group, aged 68.7 +/- 5.5 y, did not 
      watch a humor video and sat in quiescence. OUTCOME MEASURES: A standardized, 
      neuropsychological, memory-assessment tool, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test 
      (RAVLT), was used to assess the following abilities: (1) learning, (2) recall, 
      and (3) visual recognition. The testing occurred twice, once before (RAVLT1) and 
      once after (RAVLT2) the humorous video for the humor and diabetic groups, and 
      once before (RAVLT1) and once after (RAVLT2) the period of quiescence for the 
      control group. At 5 time points, measurements of salivary cortisol were also 
      obtained. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to measure significance of the data 
      based on the 3 groups. RESULTS: In the humor, diabetic, and control groups, (1) 
      learning ability improved by 38.5%, 33.4%, and 24.0%, respectively (P = .025); 
      (2) delayed recall improved by 43.6%, 48.1%, and 20.3%, respectively (P = .064); 
      and (3) visual recognition increased by 12.6%, 16.7%, and 8.3%, respectively (P = 
      .321). For levels of salivary cortisol, the research team found significant and 
      borderline decreases for the humor group between baseline and (1) post-RAVLT1 (P 
      = .047), (2) postvideo (P = .046), and (3) post-RAVLT2 (P = .062). The diabetic 
      group showed significant decreases between baseline and (1) post-RAVLT1 (P = 
      .047), (2) postvideo (P = .025), and (3) post-RAVLT2 (P = .034). The study found 
      no significant changes for the control group. CONCLUSION: The research findings 
      supported potential clinical and rehabilitative benefits for humor that can be 
      applied to whole-person wellness programs for older adults. The cognitive 
      components-learning ability and delayed recall-become more challenging as 
      individuals age and are essential to older adults for providing a high quality of 
      life: mind, body, and spirit. Because older adults can experience age-related 
      memory deficits, complementary, enjoyable, and beneficial humor therapies should 
      be implemented for them.
FAU - Bains, Gurinder Singh
AU  - Bains GS
FAU - Berk, Lee S
AU  - Berk LS
FAU - Lohman, Everett
AU  - Lohman E
FAU - Daher, Noha
AU  - Daher N
FAU - Petrofsky, Jerrold
AU  - Petrofsky J
FAU - Schwab, Ernie
AU  - Schwab E
FAU - Deshpande, Pooja
AU  - Deshpande P
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Randomized Controlled Trial
PL  - United States
TA  - Altern Ther Health Med
JT  - Alternative therapies in health and medicine
JID - 9502013
RN  - WI4X0X7BPJ (Hydrocortisone)
SB  - IM
MH  - Aged
MH  - Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/*psychology/*therapy
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Hydrocortisone/metabolism
MH  - Laughter/*physiology
MH  - *Laughter Therapy
MH  - Male
MH  - Memory, Short-Term/*physiology
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Saliva/metabolism
EDAT- 2015/05/31 06:00
MHDA- 2015/09/12 06:00
CRDT- 2015/05/31 06:00
PHST- 2015/05/31 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2015/05/31 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2015/09/12 06:00 [medline]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Altern Ther Health Med. 2015 May-Jun;21(3):16-25.