I am a theatre artist and have the skill to enact laughter on command. Do you think I can also get the same health benefits from fake laughter on stage the way laughter club members do when they pretend to laugh?

Samuel Watson, UK

Laughter in laughter clubs is different from other fake laughter as it involves a healthy exercise and not just an enactment of emotions. When actors act, they are not doing laughter as an exercise; it is a part of their play and entails different thought processes. On the other hand, Laughter Yoga is done as a form of an exercise and does not rely on any reason, sense of humor. It is purely a physical act and not a mental phenomenon.  Here are some significant differences:

• Laughter Yoga club members learn to laugh in order to be healthy. Health is a priority and they are totally committed to doing laughter exercises.  Actors on the other hand are trained to acquire skills for performance. Health is not their main concern. They are doing it just for a living.
• Laughter members are not being judged. They are free from anxiety of performance. Actors suffer from the stress of being judged all the time as their performance is based on the appreciation of others.
• Laughter Yoga members are motivated by a feeling of wellbeing, whereas performers are motivated by the audience and their judgments.
• In Laughter Clubs there is no audience. Each person is an active participant. Actors are primarily performers. They have to face audiences which are passive participants most of the time.
• Laughter for the club members is on demand whereas actors laugh on command.