Laughter yoga boosts well-being and reduces stress in nursing students, study finds

A new study published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being has found that laughter yoga boosts well-being and reduces stress in nursing students, offering a potential aid to the mental health challenges common in higher education. While the findings suggest benefits for stress and emotional health, the research shows no measurable impact on students’ academic self-confidence.

Nursing students often face high levels of stress due to the demands of rigorous academic programs and intense clinical training. This heightened stress can negatively affect mental well-being, leading to issues like burnout, anxiety, and depression. Recognizing this, researchers Merve Altiner Yas and Olga Incesu from Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa explored whether laughter yoga could help alleviate some of these pressures.

Laughter yoga is a unique exercise routine that combines breathing techniques from traditional yoga with voluntary laughter. It operates on the principle that the brain cannot distinguish between real and simulated laughter, meaning participants can reap emotional and physiological benefits even if they start with forced laughter.

In this study, 83 final-year nursing students participated. The group was divided into an intervention group (41 participants), who attended five weekly 40-minute laughter yoga sessions, and a control group (42 participants), who did not receive any intervention. The laughter yoga sessions incorporated clapping, deep breathing exercises, and playful activities designed to elicit laughter.

The results were promising. Students in the laughter yoga group showed significant improvements in their well-being scores, with many reporting feeling happier and less stressed after the sessions. Stress levels also declined in this group, although the researchers found no difference in perceived stress levels between the laughter yoga and control groups at the study’s conclusion.

Interestingly, academic self-efficacy — a student’s confidence in their ability to perform academic tasks — remained unchanged. This finding might reflect the short duration of the intervention, or the already high levels of academic confidence reported by the students at the start of the study.

While the results highlight the potential of laughter yoga to support mental health, the researchers note some limitations. The self-reported nature of the data introduces the possibility of bias, and the researchers were not blinded in this single-blinded study.

Despite these caveats, the study authors concluded with some benefits of their research: “laughter yoga can be utilized to support mental well-being in senior nursing students as a beneficial, non-pharmacological, and cost-effective approach. Moreover, community mental health nurses and educators can plan regular laughter yoga programs for promoting mental health and well-being in universities.”

The study, “The Effect of Laughter Yoga on Well-Being, Perceived Stress, and Academic Self-Efficacy in Nursing Students,” was authored by Merve Altiner Yas and Olga Incesu.