laughter has also been found to make people alert, stimulate the brain, and enhance learning. It also helps people to be more productive, to communicate more effectively, to sleep more soundly,and to form friendships more easily. In the mid-1990s, a doctor from India was struck by these benefits and brainstormed a way to bring more laughter into his patients' lives. The doctor, Madan Kataria, gathered a group pf people together in a local park to practice laughing as part of a "laughter club." During the club meetings, Kataria would prompt members to laugh in a variety of ways. For example, he would tell them to greet one another with a laugh, or to laugh like a lion. Although Kataria discovered that fake laughter produces the same health benefits as genuine laughter, he was gratified to find that it usually didn't take long for fake laughter to turn into real laughter.