Interacting with other parents of their age and regular exercise helps ward boredom and improve health 
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That's How It's Done: Leela Phatak, Shashikalal Divekar, Mukta Jathar, Usha Nanal and Shubhada Katkar at Pune's Lokmanya Laughter club. </td></tr></tbody></table>Many senior citizens in Pune, whose children have settled abroad, are laughing their blues away by joining laughter clubs. Lokmanya Yog Sangh, a laughter club, at Navi Peth, which completed 10 years in Pune, is one such club. Dr Subhash Desai, the founder-president of the club, organises special celebrations for senior citizens on Sunday and Monday, where the women and men enjoy games of musical chair. "We are proud that our sons are having better prospects and working hard inu00a0 foreign country. We do feel lonely and depressed without them at times ,but life hasu00a0 also taught us that it is better to laugh away the blues," said Mukta Jathar (81), a regular at the club. Jathar's friends at the club like Leela Phatak (68), Usha Nanal (75), Shubhada Katkar (63) and Shashikala Divekar (82) says they feel happy in each others company. u00a0 Illnesses cured Katkar's son Mandar, is an IT professional in Bangalore, whereas Jathar's son Shridhar is a technician, Nanal's son Nitin and Devdhar's son Dilip are medical practitioners and Phatak's son Mohan is a medical practitioner and social worker. Some mothers like Alaka Dandekar, whose son is in the USA, have chosen to live in India. u00a0 "We don't want to go to a foreign country just for the joy of being with our sons. It is better to be here on one's own independent and fearless," Dandekar said. "Many members get cured of various ailments due to the regular exercise they get at the club. Jathar's piles, for in instance, got cured," said Phatak, whose cataract disappeared after exercising at the club. "In fact, I do not discuss my ailments with my doctor son. The laughter club works like therapy for me," said Devdhar. Laugh your way to life Research has shown health benefits of laughter ranging from strengthening the immune system to reducing food cravings to increasing one's threshold for pain. There's even an emerging therapeutic field known as humor therapy to help people heal more quickly, among other things.

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Interacting with other parents of their age and regular exercise helps ward boredom and improve health 

Senior citizens with kids settled abroad flock to laughter club

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Senior citizens with kids settled abroad flock to laughter club

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