Loneliness - more than just a feeling
For older adults the feeling of loneliness can increase the risk of premature death by 14%.
Loneliness has detrimental effects on the human body eliciting more than just a psychological response and researchers at UChicago have now connected more of the specific physiological effects that can occur. When an individual feels lonely this leads to an activation of the sympathetic nervous system which can affect the production of white blood cells.
This process involves an increased expression of genes involved in inflammation and decreased expression of those to do with antiviral responses. In other words, being lonely leads you to have a decreased immune response and more inflammation.They found that these results were specific to loneliness alone and not triggered by depression or stress.
They also did testing on rhesus macaque monkeys and found that when isolated, they showed higher levels of norepinephrine indicating an increased activation of the sympathetic nervous system. The lonely monkeys also allowed for simian immunodeficiency virus (monkey HIV) to grow faster than in those of social monkeys. Overall the increased sympathetic nervous system leads to an increased production of immature monocytes, followed by an increase in inflammatory genes, and finally an impaired anti-viral response. So get out there an socialize, it may just improve your immune system.
Source:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151123201925.htm
In our society today, there is a tendency to stay at home and reach people using electronic means rather than face-to-face contact. However, for the older generations, this type of communication is often not utilized. This study on the effects of loneliness may have a significant impact in how we care for our elders. Having senior centers and places for people to connect may help to curb these side effects and, ultimately, premature death. Additionally, it may be useful to invest in teaching or having centers where seniors can get help using programs such as Skype to connect to those they might otherwise be unable to reach. That way, even if it is snowy outside or the senior is sick and can't make it out of their house, they can still reach out to others. This study showed that animals may also suffer these effects from loneliness. It may be possible to pair seniors with pet shelters where they can interact with animals. Even if the senior is unable to provide full time care for an animal in their own home, this may be a way to help ease the loneliness older adults and shelter pets can feel. Pets have been shown to decrease loneliness and provide many health benefits.
ReplyDeleteThis study may also have impacts on how prisoners are treated. It brings into question if solitary confinement is an ethical punishment for prisoners. Although often employed for the protection of the inmate and others around the inmate, an alternative treatment may be looked into if this punishment ultimately results in an increased risk of premature death.
Sources:
http://www.petsfortheelderly.org/articles.html
b.jhu.edu/magazine/2015/spring/is-solitary-confinement-ethical
My grandmother has lived at her house for years alone, with the company of a dog. She talks to her dog just like it was a person and claims her dog was able to find a blood clot in her leg by bothering a certain spot on her leg until she finally went in the doctor and they found the blood clot. If this clot would have dislodged and gone to her heart or head, she could have had a heart attack or stroke. Along with the pets decreasing the loneliness of our elders, they have many health benefits associated with them such as decreased blood pressure and even the ability to help speed up the healing process of patients in a hospital. I have met a therapy dog when I volunteered in a hospital and I have seen it being with patients and how happy those patients are after interacting with the therapy animal. I think this is a great thing hospitals have and I believe it truly does help them in the healing process. Nobody wants to sit in a hospital alone.
DeleteSource:
https://www.nsarco.com/therapy-animal-info.html
It is interesting to know that the body actually activates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) during the feeling of loneliness as opposed to the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). I also wonder how the researchers were able to rule out depression and stress since the SNS is known to produce the stress hormones and activated during loneliness; especially when they were able to measure an elevation of norepinephrine. Overall, I think the topic is very relevant to the social trend of this 21st century.
ReplyDeleteLoneliness is something we do attribute to the elderly population and it is definitely not a false accusation. As we get older, our company dwindles down; spouses pass away, children grow up, get married, move away, etc. Thus, there is a raise in elders admitted into long-term care (LTC) facilities across the U.S. and by the mean of this post, their “failure to thrive” may be due to loneliness. I know this very well due to my previous work as a recreational therapy assistant at a LTC facility. Our main goal as recreational therapists is to increase social interactions and facilitate leisurely activities; all of which has proven to have positive health benefits. With that said, there’s not enough recreational personnel to go around for all residents. I think if people knew more about the positive correlation with social interactions and health they will be more willing to volunteer their time; this not only help those at the receiving end, but the volunteers as well.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4110381/
I would be interested in further studies between extroverts and introverts. As an introvert myself, I find that I can be alone for far longer than my extroverted friends, without feeling lonely. It would be interesting to see if there are correlates in physical differences between extroverts and introverts, or perhaps it would be better to be more objective and develop a more scientific way of classifying people who like being alone or not.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought I had was that this could potentially give an alternate explanation to the observation that, at least at my undergraduate college, everyone gets sick after returning from winter break. Now, of course it would be foolish to rule out the fact that people are bringing sicknesses with them back into a community with perhaps no innoculation against the particular strain - but it would be interesting to look into. If it were a factor in the wave of sickness that happens after break, simple fixes could be done (puppy play dates, group activities, etc.) to counteract this loneliness and heighten that immune system.
Interesting article!
I am very curious if they looked into the possibility of an evolutionary aspect. Theoretically those who experience loneliness were at a reduced fitness compared to those who did not. The negative health effects may be due to the body not working as hard because the chance of procreating are not as high. It is similar to the concept of aging and senescence in which the body shuts down in a programmed manner. Past studies have suggested retiring reduces your life expectancy by taking away a major motivation. Similarly, it is possible that those who are lonely have lost a serious motivator. This may be worth investigating.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/workingpapers/wp93.html