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loneliness stinks we've probably all
been there at one time or another and
there's no really arguing with the fact
that it is no fun but it turns out that
loneliness might have an even nastier
set it tricks up its sleeve
it could be wreaking havoc on our health
and even cutting short our lives um what
the internet is full of headlines about
how dangerous loneliness can be but the
idea that it causes more public health
problems than obesity or that it can
literally kill you it's pretty wild
thankfully things might not be quite as
dire as a Google search might lead you
to believe but it is worth taking a look
at how loneliness can affect your health
it's important to realize that
loneliness isn't the same as social
isolation which is the state of being
out of contact with society or other
people living alone or spending lots of
time by yourself isn't bad as long as it
works for you loneliness is more about
the psychological consequences of having
a gap between the interaction and social
support you'd like and what you're
actually getting when you think about it
loneliness is actually a pretty sensible
thing evolutionarily speaking
psychologists have suggested that it
could fulfill a role similar to hunger
urging us to seek out the kind of social
companionship that helps us survive and
pass along our genes but it can become
kind of problematic when it stops being
a short-term thing like after a move to
a new city and becomes a long-term one
now the stats on how many of us struggle
with loneliness are honestly all over
the place but many studies have shown
that rates are highest among adolescents
and some have suggested that loneliness
becomes more prevalent again very late
in life recent surveys in the UK
Australia and New Zealand have suggested
that about 10 to 30 percent of
adolescents and young adults and about
10 to 15% of the elderly experience
persistent loneliness one study even
suggested that loneliness can be
contagious in other words how lonely
your friends and neighbors are can
predict your future loneliness
maybe because lonely people tend to pull
away from others so you know that's
great even though it might be hard to
pin down exactly how common loneliness
is there's actually quite a lot of
evidence that it's linked to a number of
health problems it's been associated
with high
levels of the stress hormone cortisol
higher blood pressure and increased risk
of heart disease it's also been linked
to lower activity in genes that reduce
inflammation and even to dementia but in
that case it's not clear if loneliness
causes the condition or if the condition
itself causes loneliness loneliness
could also mean that the things we
normally do to protect our health are
less effective for example it can
predict poorer sleep and make us less
likely to exercise a 2005 study of 83
college freshmen also found that the
immune systems of the students with the
highest levels of loneliness were less
responsive to certain components of
vaccinations and yes there's even some
evidence that loneliness is linked to
dying sooner although to be clear the
jury is still out on that one yeah so
that's a lot but what could possibly
make loneliness have such a powerful
effect on us right now there isn't a lot
of data looking at the same individuals
over a long time which makes it hard to
say for sure the generally accepted
hypothesis have to do with loneliness
--is ability to increase stress and shut
down those protective health behaviors
the idea is that in an evolutionary
sense social isolation is similar to
being unsafe there's no one around to
support or protect you which would have
been bad news for early humans so it
triggers all that fight-or-flight stuff
it activates the HPA axis a system
spread throughout our body that
coordinates your stress responses and
gets the cortisol pumping this makes us
hyper vigilant to other social threats
which probably compounds the loneliness
problem by making us not very nice to
other people
after all constant vigilance never made
Mad Eye Moody many friends being on high
alert all the time also takes away from
our ability to control our behaviors so
goodbye Jim hello package of corndogs
which you know I've heard is not great
for your health even if they are the
best the good news is that there has
been a substantial about a research done
on how to counter loneliness and its
effects and thankfully it's more than
just like go out and make some friends
go to the bar one meta-analysis found
that group activities with an
educational or discussion focus could
reduce loneliness in older adults and
psychologists also recommend
volunteering or doing good deeds for
others or you could get a pet obviously
we all know
our pets are wonderful and perfect but
there's also legit research in older
adults showing that animal assisted
therapy can reduce feelings of
loneliness even though the internet
often gets a bad rap studies have also
shown that chatting and forums can help
too another research showed that social
media that's based around images and
video offers more intimacy than
text-based social media and can make you
feel more connected to people so you
know just keep hanging out with us
slowly this is never fun and it doesn't
seem to be great for your body either
but there are ways to get out of that
slump and at the end of the day there's
nothing wrong with seeking out
professional help - thanks for watching
this episode of scishow psyche people
are wonderful and complicated and if you
ever wondered why you are the way you
are we might have some answers for you
if you'd like to watch more episodes or
stay up-to-date when new ones come out
you can go to youtube.com/scishow psyche
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