Prescribing Laughter for Sleep and Wellbeing in UAE University Students

The Laughie is a self created app or tool. It is a one minute recording of the user's joyful laughter on their smartphone. Once recorded, the user uses it by playing back the recording and laughing with it for the duration of the one minute. The Laughie acts as a prompt to guide the one minute of laughter.

In this research the experimental group each record their own Laughie, demonstrated and supported by the PI(s). They are then prescribed to laugh with their Laughie: 3x a day the first week (morning, lunch, and afternoon) and at least 2x a day during the second week. Immediately after using their Laughie they fill in a Laughie checklist to record whether they laughed for the full minute, whether they enjoyed their Laughie, and how they felt afterwards.

This study tracks sleep using wrist actigraphy in the control group (no Laughie prescription) and in the Laughie group. All participants complete one week baseline using sleep watches, and sleep diaries, prior to the Laughie intervention. They all then continue to track their sleep during the intervention. All participants complete WHO Five well-being, PSKI, and HADS pre and post intervention. During the intervention the Laughie participants complete Laughie checklists. All participants are invited for a final interview (the control group about the sleep equipment experience). A follow-up survey is sent to the Laughie group 2 months after their prescription.