LUCY STEPHENS looks at the theory that laughing benefits your health.

EVERYONE enjoys a good laugh. But did you know that having a chuckle can actually be very good for you?

In fact, a giggle is so beneficial for your health that one York practitioner even runs special "laughter clinics" to help relieve stress - or just to give people the opportunity to enjoy themselves.

Terry Anne Scholes, of York, is a "laughter practitioner" who has run workshops in the art of healthy chortling for the past seven years.

She holds her clinics for businesses, individual clients and cancer sufferers.

"It's an opportunity for people to find out the benefits of laughter and for people to realise how good it is for their health," says Terry Anne.

"A really good belly laugh is something that children do, and adults have forgotten how to do. Children just do it. They're healthy and they do it when they want."

So how do you get a room full of people to fall about laughing? It's a question that many stand-up comedians who have suffered the ignominy of a snigger-free set would like to know.

A crucial element of laughter workshops is that they are not about humour or telling jokes, says Terry Anne - who also has a hypnosis practice in Wigginton. "There are no jokes involved," she says. "There is no humour in a laughter workshop."

The workshops, she says, are not about finding things funny - but about teaching people the benefits of laughter and encouraging them to let their endorphins go.

Terry Anne gets everyone in her clinics to start off by smiling, raising their eyebrows, and then letting loose a rich laugh.

Because everyone coming to her sessions is expecting to have a good guffaw, and because giggling itself is infectious, she says those who come along soon find themselves roaring with laughter together.

"Once one person starts, that's it," says Terry Anne. "There's no stopping them. It's almost too crazy and ridiculous to even think about."

In her sessions, Terry Anne also talks about the negative impacts of stress and how laughter can help.

Terry Anne delivered one of her sessions yesterday in aid of the Samaritans, at Millers Yard Positive Living Centre, in Gillygate, York.

Why laughing is good for you

Terry Anne Scholes says a good chuckle has many health benefits, including:* Boosting your immune system
* Relieving stress
* Sending happy endorphins around the body
* Lowering blood pressure
* Giving your stomach muscles a good workout* Research published by the American College of Cardiology also found that laughing appeared to boost blood flow, which could mean it reduces heart disease.* According to Bupa, laughing has also been found to help fight infections, relieve hay fever and control diabetes. It also even been shown to help reduce pain. Funny videos have been used in anaesthetic rooms, and one American nurse told jokes to patients before administering a painful treatment.