The health benefits of laughter and how it helped a Hong Kong cancer survivor’s well-being and fear of recurrence
- On World Laughter Day, breast cancer survivor Vincy Chau describes how laughter yoga helped her feel more relaxed and changed her perspective on her future
- A medical expert explains how even voluntarily laughing can benefit both physical and mental health, such as relieving stress and pain
When Vincy Chau underwent treatment for stage 3 breast cancer in 2021 and 2022, she felt depressed and anxious about her future.
She trusted that the chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery would help her beat the disease. But would the cancer return? She cried every day.
After completing her treatment in May 2022, the 41-year-old shared her feelings with a psychiatrist, who prescribed her antidepressant medication – and suggested that she do things that made her happy.
Chau looked online for ways to feel better. When laughter yoga showed up in her search results, she was intrigued and signed up to try it. Unknowingly, instead of a regular class, she had enrolled in a two-day instructor course.
She only discovered the mistake five minutes into the course, but as she had already paid for it, the stay-at-home Hong Kong mum chose to continue.
The first few hours of the course were “strange”.