Laughter exercises reduce dry eyes as much as eye drops, a new study published in the journal BMJ shows, writes Dagens Medicin.
The study included 299 patients who were randomly assigned to either perform laughter exercises four times a day or to use eye drops with hyaluronic acid the same number of times.
Through a mobile app, the laughter participants were instructed to repeat the phrases "hee hee hee, hah hah hah, cheese cheese cheese, cheek cheek cheek, hah hah hah hah hah hah" 30 times over five minutes. At the same time, they were to exaggerate their facial expressions, according to the instructions.
After eight weeks of treatment, the symptoms of the participants in both groups had decreased equally. Therefore, the researchers conclude that the laughter exercises were not inferior to the eye drops as a treatment.
