Southern Fried Laughter Conference: Laughter is good medicine

The 2014 American Laughing Championship will be held at 9 p.m. May 17 at the Hotel Capitol Park Atlanta. $20.

Is laughter a remedy for what ails you?

It may sound a bit like medical hocus-pocus, but research has shown that yukking it up can be a powerful stress reliever and help stimulate a person’s brain, heart and lungs.

So why isn’t there a medical degree — or at least a certificate — in laughology?

“Laughter massages all our internal organs, strengthens the immune system, and makes us feel lighter and more able to handle life’s challenges,” said Debbie Ellison, a laughter coach, laughter yoga teacher and creator of the Southern Fried Laughter Conference, which will be held May 16-18 at the Fulton Atlanta Community Action Authority, 341 Kelly St. S.E.

Ellison, director of Laughter for Wellness in Atlanta, created the conference in 2012 as a way to “spread joy” and to help people become more aware of the benefits of laughter. The conference is co-facilitated by Ellison and Lori Sugarman, both certified Laughter Yoga Leaders.

Speakers include Dr. Neil Shulman, an associate professor in the school of medicine at Emory University and author of the book on which the Michael J. Fox film “Doc Hollywood” was based; motivational speaker Joyce Rennolds; Albert Nerenberg, a laughologist and film director from Canada; and Julie Ostrow, American Laughing Champion.

There also will be break-out sessions on healing and the benefits of laughter. The 2014 American Laughing Championships will be held at 9 p.m. May 17 at the Hotel Capitol Park Atlanta. During the championship, contestants will use a variety of laugh techniques such as the snort, the Alabama Kneeslapper and the diabolical laugh. There also will be a laughter duel and a special category for the sexiest laugh in America.

A key element that contestants are judged on is contagiousness — how much do they make others laugh with their laugh?

“Adults usually only laugh for a reason, which means we don’t laugh that often,” Ellison said. “How many times during the day do you hear a really funny joke or see something that really makes you laugh out loud?”

In her Laughter Yoga groups, participants laugh for no reason. They may start out faking it, then it turns to genuine laughter, which Ellison believes is contagious.

Indeed, a little hilarity does the body good.

A recent study from Loma Linda University in California, for instance, determined that laughter and humor may reduce brain damage and memory loss caused by the stress hormone cortisol in older adults. Another study from the same university found that when people engage in humor-associated laughter, their brain wave frequencies resemble those that are seen when people participate in meditation.

“That is my mission in my life and my work — really, play — to help people be joyful,” she said. “I believe if each person felt truly joyful inside, we would have world peace. You cannot feel good inside and want to hurt someone else. And you cannot laugh with another person and fight with them at the same time. You just can’t.”

And, apparently, a whole community has been built up around laughter. There’s laughter yoga and consultants who work with companies to bring laughter and at least good vibes into the workplace, which studies show increase productivity.

The conference will feel right at home in Atlanta.

Atlanta was recently named the third funniest city behind Chicago and Boston using a “humor algorithm” developed at the University of Colorado.

Nerenberg said it’s not about comedy, necessarily.

“Comedy doesn’t necessarily make people happy, because it’s very taste-oriented,” he said. “You have to understand the joke. It’s an intellectual process. What we are doing is more about contagious laughter. It’s more universal and less brainy.”

He argues that 10 minutes of hearty laughter gives the body a full workout (this will cause a lot of laughter, I’m sure).

“It’s basically a new form of exercise and a way to practice happiness.”