Laughing is good for you, science has shown. That's good news for older adults who still appreciate humor - providing they understand it, according to a Canadian study published in a 2003 issue of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.

"The good news is that aging does not affect emotional responses to humor - we'll still enjoy a good laugh when we get the joke," Prathiba Shammi, a psychologist with Baycrest Center for Geriatric Care, said in a statement. "This preserved affective responsiveness is important because it is integral to social interaction and it has long been postulated that humor may enhance quality of life, assist in stress management, and help us cope with the stresses of aging."

The downside of the study: Older adults had more trouble than spring chickens comprehending humor. They were less able to choose appropriate punch lines for jokes or to select the correct funny cartoon from an array of cartoons. Another research team came to the same conclusions in 2007, that older adults have a harder time "getting a joke" than younger individuals.

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