I have long advocated that a little humor is good for you. It keeps you from taking yourself too seriously. My working theory has been that all the jerks I have dealt with lacked any humor genes. Now I am leaning to medical issues explaining why they do not find me at all funny.
Susan Pinker, reporting recently in the Wall Street Journal, notes that English research published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that an altered sense of humor predicts dementia by as much as 10 years. A big change in the type or subtlety of the humor perceived appeared in many of those later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Humor requires a form of thinking that, in effect, processes a type of stress test for the brain. Thus the type of humor one perceived turned out to be a sensitive predictor of a later diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia.
So, you folks who never laugh at my attempts at alleged humor — you may just not be right. Things may be going on with you and you do not know it. It’s you and not me it seems. Perhaps a social experiment might help with this test:
• So, did you hear of the three-hour power outage at the local university? Thirty students were trapped on the escalator for over three hours.
• You have a car on the interstate with your football team’s wide receiver, your defensive back, and two linebackers in it. Who is driving the car? The cop.
• Your alma mater banned the wave at the stadium. Three fans drowned last year.
• They no longer serve ice in the drinks at the stadium. The student who had the recipe graduated.
• The difference between your team and a dollar — you can get four quarters out of a dollar.
• Why do your team’s players eat their cereal straight out of the box? They choke whenever they get near a bowl.
Now see, I have concluded my medical research and some of you are just not doing well. Some of you people lack any sense of humor; simply are not right; or will be losing your recall within the next 10 years. I am glad to have helped.
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