Effects of Laughter on Quality and Hours of Sleep and Blood Pressure among Elderly in Indonesia

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the effects of laughter on quality and hours of sleep, systolic and diastolic blood pressure among the elderly and made use of a quasi-experimental interrupted time-series design. Forty participants were selected through purposive sampling, 20 were randomly assigned to experimental group and 20 to control group. Findings revealed that in the control group the baseline mean for quality of sleep and post intervention was average. In the experimental group, the baseline mean for quality of sleep and first week post intervention was average, while in the second week post intervention was good. The hours of sleep was highest in the experimental group on the second week post intervention. The mean of systolic and diastolic was lowest in the experimental group on the second week post intervention. There was a significant difference in the experimental group in the quality of sleep, hours of sleep, and systolic blood pressure between baseline and second week post intervention, but no significant difference in the diastolic blood pressure. There was a significant difference in the pattern of change across the three time period in quality of sleep, hours of sleep, and systolic blood pressure between control and experimental group, while no significant difference in the diastolic blood pressure. Gender and educational attainment made no significant difference in the quality of sleep, hours of sleep, and systolic blood pressure, while there was a significant difference in diastolic blood pressure.