They were terrific at the 36th Annual North Carolina Head Start Association State Conference held recently at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro. More than 100 Head Start staff, parents, and administrators filed into the amphitheater ready to reduce their stress and lighten up their mental workload with a guaranteed stress buster—laughter.

One might wonder why a session on laughter was a top draw for so many conference attendees. Maybe it’s because research is telling us that it makes a difference in the quality of care our children receive when child care providers are happy and healthy.

Ice Cube Down the Back Laugh

Dr. Paula Jorde Bloom from the Center for Early Childhood Leadership, National-Louis University, and others, have performed a body of research that shows that quality of work life for early childhood providers is a factor linked directly to positive outcomes in children. According to the National Child Care Staffing Study, “by failing to meet the needs of the adults who work in child care, we are threatening not only their well-being, but that of the children in their care.”

And other researchers are telling us the healthy power of a good giggle. In 2005, Cardiologist Michael Miller and colleagues at the University of Maryland decided to investigate the possible health effects of laughter by measuring the ability of blood vessels to expand, known as vasodilation.

Penguin Laugh

In their study, 20 men and women experienced increased blood flow while watching a funny movie, such as There’s Something About Mary, while 74 percent had decreased blood flow during the violent opening battle scene in the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan. The results of their study, presented at the March 2005 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, point to a strong connection between laughter and cardiovascular health. “Wouldn’t it be ironic if it turns out that laughing 15 to 20 minutes a day would be added as part of overall good health habits, like running?” says Miller.

And still other researchers are telling us that laughing out loud helps us to burn a few calories and can lead to weight loss. According to Dr. Maciej Buchowski of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, laughing out loud for 10 to 15 minutes a day burns between 10 and 40 calories. They calculated that this is equal to two kilograms (4.4 pounds) a year if you do it every day.

Head Start Conference attendees may have shown up to have a good time and reduce stress, yet at the end of 90 minutes, they discovered that laughter is their ally in creating a happier, healthier work environment.

Whether you are an early childhood provider or not, laughter can enhance quality of work life, which leads to higher quality of service delivery on a consistent basis. If you want happy, healthy employees, to help you create happy, healthy customers … C’mon, Let’s Laugh!

Oh, here’s something else for all of us chocolate lovers. By laughing out loud for 10 to 15 minutes a day and burning between 10 and 40 calories, the researchers say that’s the amount in a small piece of chocolate, depending on a person’s body weight. Chocolate lovers, you can now have the best of both worlds—laugh to burn off those calories from chocolate. I’m lovin’ this laughter more and more.