Researchers have suggested that laughter may not be the best medicine after all and could even be harmful to some patients. Researchers from Birmingham and Oxford in the UK reviewed the reported benefits and harms of laughter. They used data published between 1946 and 2013. They concluded that laughter is a serious matter. They identified benefits from laughter; harms from laughter; and conditions causing pathological laughter. Some conditions benefit from 'unintentional' (Duchenne) laughter. Laughter can increase pain thresholds although hospital clowns had no impact on distress in children undergoing minor surgery (even though they were in stitches). Laughter reduces arterial
