Post by southsidesignmaker on Oct 11, 2010 17:04:10 GMT -6
Brits' sense of humour fails at the age of 52, study finds
'Victor Meldrew Syndrome’, when adults become more grumpy than happy, kicks in at the ripe old age of 52, scientists have found.
Published: 6:00AM BST 08 Oct 2010
Victor Meldrew
Victor Meldrew knows that being curmudgeonly is a comfort
It is then that both men and women begin to suffer a sharp decline in their sense of humour and get increasingly grumpy, according to scientists at the University of Glamorgan.
The study also backed the long held belief, epitomised by Meldrew, that older men are grumpier than women – four times grumpier in fact, for those in their sixties.
Researcher Dr Lesley Harbidge of Glamorgan University said: "The Lifetime of Laughter Scale shows that there really is a law of diminishing returns when it comes to laughter.
"We laugh twice as much in our teens as we do in our fifties. And our findings suggest that it's all downhill from 52.”
The study found that while an infant can laugh aloud as many as 300 times every day, life rapidly becomes far less fun.
As Harry Enfield’s Kevin and Perry so deftly depicted, things soon change. While teenagers are the age group most likely to laugh at other people’s misfortunes, they laugh on average just six times a day.
Things get even bleaker in what should be the relatively carefree twenties, when we laugh four times a day.
This rises to five times a day throughout the thirties, when having children is cited as a major factor in restoring a sense of humour.
By the time we reach 50, Brits are laughing just three times a day, while the average 60-year-old manages a hearty guffaw just 2.5 times in the same period.
To add insult to injury, the study suggests that the art of joke telling is on the wane.
It found that most Brits are only able to tell two jokes but more than 600 of the 2,000 questioned cannot remember telling a joke in the last twelve months.
Dr Harbidge said: "It's important to remember how good laughter is for you: it releases endorphins and a little laughter every day goes a long way to reducing stress.
"To combat stress, we ought to be seeking out more comedy.”
The study, commissioned for TV station Dave, found that those over the age of 50 were more likely to complain and spend time worrying than their younger counterparts.
It found that they have written an average of 2.9 letters of complaint in the last year alone, rising to 3.5 for the over sixties, compared to just 1.8 by those in their twenties. Those aged over 50 are also far more likely to have experienced a dispute with a neighbour.
The age group also spends the longest time – an average of one hour and 41 minutes – worrying every day, with money pinpointed as the biggest concern closely followed by health.
Meldrew, the irascible pensioner in the comedy series One Foot in the Grave who was obsessed with the negative side of life, would no doubt declare: “I don’t believe it”.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8048844/Brits-sense-of-humour-fails-at-the-age-of-52-study-finds.html