Is laughing less harming the nation’s mental wellbeing?

An academic study reveals UK adults spend under two hours a year laughing in total, and it is impacting the nation’s mental wellbeing.

In a world of zoom calls, face masks and social distancing, the news that people have never laughed less will perhaps be of little surprise.

“The power of humour is clear from this Walkers study and the link is startlingly simple: the more you laugh, the better you feel overall.” – Dr Dean Burnett, neuroscientist and lead researcher

The average UK adult now spends less than two hours a year in total (1 hour and 52 minutes) having a really good laugh. People spend more time on mundane chores like taking out the bins than they do having a good titter. At a time when it’s needed more than ever, there’s only a 1 in 5,000 chance of somebody breaking into hysterical laughter**.

The new study called the ‘Walkers Power of Humour Report’ by Walkers and neuroscientist, Dr Dean Burnett, suggests that all this is affecting the nation’s mental wellbeing like never before. The research, which involved 2,001 people from across the UK, split participants into two groups, with the first group shown funny animal videos, curated by Dr Burnett to invoke the feelings of joy and laugher, and the second group asked to answer questions as normal with no video.

At the start of the experiment, one in three people in the study (29%) claimed to be stressed, rising to 41% amongst 18-34-year-olds. A significant number (31%) also stated that they were finding it hard to stay positive.

Top: Tommy Cooper can bring a smile, Above: Mrs Merton (Caroline Ahern) was a comedy giver

However, the group made to laugh by the videos represented an immediate improvement in overall positive outlook and were 9% less likely to feel stressed when asked by researchers to imagine themselves in tense everyday situations; from missing the bus to queuing at the shops to taking an exam. The group exposed to the videos were also fractionally more able to see the silver lining to these stressful situations (73% vs 69%).

The majority (88 per cent) also stated that they felt they could face the day better after laughing about something, with the same number (87%) stating that just hearing others laugh made them feel more positive. A similar number (86%) said they felt that laughing about a stressful situation meant they could handle it better.

“From a wry smile to tears rolling down your face, people simply aren’t laughing enough. We understand that sometimes it’s hard to see the funny side, and it’s a very difficult time right now. But the truth is, we hold the power, and you can start small too.

“Simply pledging to try and see the positive or funny side to everyday situations like missing the bus or accidentally hitting ‘reply all’ on a work email, will have a powerful instant impact on your mental and physical wellbeing.” – Dr Dean Burnett, neuroscientist and lead researcher

Yet in spite of the clear power that humour has to positively affect a person’s outlook, people aren’t laughing nearly enough, with two in five participants (42%) saying they couldn’t remember the last time they properly laughed. Of those who did remember, 11% said the last time they had a good laugh was over a month ago.

This has been made worse by the pandemic, with a third (31%) of people also admitting to laughing and joking less than they did before. A small number (10%) said they’d never laughed less.

What’s more, clearly it’s important to laugh often, with participants recording the feel good factor from a good old laugh lasting just 1 minute and 12 seconds. The report found that the most stress-inducing every day activity is running late (69%), followed by taking exams (68%), turning up late to meetings (60%) and speaking to a room full of people (60%). But these activities can include anything that makes a person feel personally anxious.

Larry Grayson gives us a titter (LWT/ITV)

Funny situations (41%), friends (34%), and partners (29%) rank as the top three things that make people laugh the most, followed closely by their children (23%) and pets (22%).

Off the back of the findings, Walkers has launched a new partnership with Comic Relief and will create a fund to support projects that support mental wellbeing in the UK. The #Walkers Tweet Relief’ online event for Red Nose Day asks the nation to use humour to spread positivity.

For every tweet using #WalkersTweetRelief Walkers are pledging to donate one pound (GBP) to Comic Relief for Red Nose Day.

“Walkers has always been about bringing levity and moments of relief to people’s lives – whether it’s through our products or our campaigns. It’s clear that laughter can help us to live a little better every day, so we want to inspire people to treat life with more levity and positivity, and by doing so release some of the tension of modern life.” – Fernando Kahane at Walkers

Top 10 Most Stressful Everyday Situations

Source: Walkers Power of Humour Report. To find out more, visit www.comicrelief.com or the Walkers Twitter page @Walkers_Crisps