Laugh a day for health benefits: Japan's Yamagata passes bill to reduce risk of heart disease

New Delhi: Laugh a day and keeps the doctor away, would be the appropriate phrase for Japan's Yamagata prefecture as the lawmakers passed an ordinance asking citizens to giggle at least once a day for the sake of their health.

In the Yamagata prefecture in northern Japan, an ordinance was passed last week based on research from Yamagata University’s Faculty of Medicine which found that laughter can reduce the risk of heart disease.

The Conservative Liberal Democratic Party proposed and also passed the ordinance but the opposition lawmakers from parties including the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) raised voice against this, citing a violation of human rights of those who may have difficulty laughing due to illness or injury, The Strait Times reported.

One state assemblyman said the government should consider how residents may not be motivated to laugh due to unstable employment, low wages and the rising cost of living.

A group called the Yamagata administrative check volunteer association on July 1 started a petition calling for the withdrawal of the laughing law.

Yamagata’s prefectural assembly designated the eighth of every month as a “laughing day” for residents to “promote health through laughter".

The ordinance also asked the office or office to have a daily chuckle, the law also demands that businesses to 'develop a workplace environment filled with laughter', and designates the eighth of every month a 'day of laughter,' according to the Daily Mail.