Losing our intelligence is the lesser known effect of aging.

According to the age of humans, terrible things happen to us. Our muscles atrophy, our eyes get worse, we DVR every episode of “NCIS”.

But there is another often overlooked expense of getting old: we begin to lose our sense of humor.

And this downside – known as “comic rock” – can have terrible consequences for our personal and professional lives.

We are all “walking together, falling down into the abyss below,” the new author writesHumor seriously“(Mudra), now out.

Most of us go to that rock at the age of 23. This is when, according to a Gallup poll of 1.4 million people in 166 countries in 2013, the frequency with which we laugh or smile on a certain day begins to wane.

“It’s global and it’s disappointing,” one of the book’s authors, Jennifer Acker, told The Post.

“That was our main question: why is this happening,” said co-author Naomi Bagdons.

Acker is a behavioral science professor at Stanford. Bagdons is a leadership coach. Together, they teach a class at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business called Humor: Serious Business that aims to help students “use humor and leverage to change organizations and lives of the future.”

Jokes are not just for children.  Research suggests that humor can improve work relationships and a culture of openness.
Jokes are not just for children. Research suggests that humor can improve work relationships and a culture of openness.
Alami

In some ways, the comic cliff is understandable. Childhood is often careless. Adulthood does not happen often. The average 4-year-old, the author writes, laughs 300 times a day. The average age of 40 will take two and a half months, so that many chuckles take place.

The culprit may be just your job.

“We grow up, enter the workforce, and suddenly become ‘serious and important people,’ trading laughter for relationships and pantsuits,” the author writes. “Before long, we completely get lost in the sea of ​​bottom lines, slide decks and mind-numbing conference calls.”

After surveying more than 700 workers in various industries, the authors found that in search of “professionalism”, many people are afraid to show more of their sense of humor, as well as their actual personality, at work each day .

Aaker and Bagdonas have indicated four reasons why.

The first, considered by a “large portion” of respondents, is the sense that humor “simply had no place between serious works.”

“In fact, we find that this is not the case,” Bagdonas says. “Humor is actually a powerful way to come across as more authentic, more human. It is not opposed to seriousness. It can reduce stress and promote cooperation.”

What’s more, a survey of hundreds of executives conducted by Robert Half International and Hodge-Cronin & Associates found that 98 percent of them liked employees who had a sense of humor and 84 percent believed Employees with a sense of humor did a better job. .

Studies show that we start laughing more often in our twilight years.  One reason may be that we are no longer working.
Studies show that we start laughing more often in our twilight years. One reason may be that we are no longer working.
Alami

The second reason that many people are afraid of having fun at work is that they have the fear of being “deep, paralyzed” that their joke will fall flat.

But in one study, researchers found that deploying humor, even if it doesn’t draw laughter, would indicate confidence, ability, and status – as long as the joke is appropriate. (More on appropriation in a second.)

The third fear holding us back is that “there is the misconception that you have to be funny to take advantage of humor,” Aker says.

“It is not about having Will Ferrell in the conference room,” says Aucker, but “about a culture where people’s sensibilities are welcomed and welcomed.

A researcher named Wayne Decker found in a study that managers who had a sense of humor – if they were funny themselves – no matter what – were 23 percent more respected by their subordinates, 25 percent more pleasant to work with and 17 percent befriended.

Finally, you can also dispel the misconception that your sense of humor either originated with you or not.

“Each of us has a unique sense of humor, and it’s a muscle we can develop,” Bagdons says.

Rock of humor
NY Post / Mike Guillen

Start developing it, if you haven’t already. Laughter is good for our mental health, “releasing a cocktail of hormones that make us feel happy,” the author writes.

Come and say, “It’s like having sex, meditating and having sex, at the same time, at least in our minds.”

But most of all, not falling off that comic cliff at age 23 can pay major dividends in your working life.

Research by Brad Bitterly, Maurice Schwitzer, and Alison Wood Brooks asked participants to rate a travel presentation. Half the presentations were straightforward, with the other half having a lewd joke at the end. Jockey presenters were perceived as “5 percent more capable, 11 percent more confident, and 37 percent more status.”

Each of us has a unique sense of humor, and is a muscle that we can develop.

Co-author Naomi Bagdons

In the same study, when participants were asked to choose a team leader, the person making the joke was “more likely to be selected.”

When it comes to sales, another experiment by researchers Karen O’Quinn and Joel Aronoff asked participants to negotiate with a research assistant as an art dealer for a piece of art. The study found that participants were willing to pay a price that was 18 percent higher if the “dealer” jokingly said, “My final offer is X … and I’ll throw my pet frog.”

Humor is also good for office bonding. Laughter releases oxytocin, the so-called trust hormone, and helps to solidify intimacy.

To test this, researchers Alan Gray, Brian Parkinson, and Robin Dunbar seated the two strangers together and watched a 5-minute video clip. Half the contestants got a fun blower reel from a popular TV show. The other half found boring footage fit for a Nature Channel documentary.

The researchers then asked each participant to write a message to the person they were sitting next to. Those who watched the laughing footage revealed “more personal information than those who did not”.

Naomi Bagdonas (left) and Jennifer Ekerker report that the average 4-year-old laughs 300 times a day.  The average age of 40 takes two and a half months.
Naomi Bagdonas (left) and Jennifer Ekerker report that the average 4-year-old laughs 300 times a day. The average age of 40 takes two and a half months.
Mary Ellen Matthews

Humor helps us “feel pre-emptively, and to feel psychologically safe to share our risky or unconventional ideas”.

What’s more, it reduces stress at the moment, promotes flexibility.

Of course, humor can also be a mine field. Ask comedian Kevin Hart, who was hosting the 2018 Oscars after the resumption of the jocke-but-homophobic tweet.

The authors suggest that you evaluate every jokes whether it is too harsh, true whether it touches on a very painful subject and whether there is enough distance to laugh about the pain.

“Laughing after a particularly difficult year for a lot of people,” he says, “may not seem superficial or silly or appropriate.”

“Right now the place to go for humor is in areas for shared humanity and vulnerability,” Bagdonas says. “This is not about mocking COVID, it is mocking the reality that we all exist in our homes when walls are falling on us.”

So what should you do if you feel yourself slipping from that comic rock?

The first step, the authors suggest, is to take a comic audit. During a week, notice when you laughed, who laughed at you and when you laughed at someone else.

Comedy, cover seriously

Exercise can help your brain better recognize your chances of humor. “You can learn to be more lenient with your laughter,” Acker said.

“It has an extraordinary effect on your physical health,” she says. “It also makes others feel good. At a time when we need to cultivate a culture of inclusivity and value others in a more thoughtful way, shared laughter is an incredible tool that we are not using. And it’s free. ”

While most people fall off a cliff of humor at 23 – and keep falling and falling – research shows that as we get older we start laughing more.

One reason may be that we are no longer working. Surveys show that people laugh more on weekends than on weekends to start work, and in retirement, every day is weekends. Another possibility is that humor in old age is “a way to form bonds and make memories,” Acker says.

The bottom line is, do not fall from the cliff of humor in the name of professionalism of imagination. Bring a sense of humor to work and sprinkle more into your personality… before it is too late.

“My mother works in a hospice,” Acker says. “What people used to say often in the last days of their lives, I wish I didn’t take myself so seriously.”

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