Feeling Lonely Can Lead To Illness And Early Death
September 16, 2007
According to researchers lonely people are more likely to get sick and die young.They used a “gene chip” to look at the DNA of isolated people and found that people who described themselves as chronically lonely have distinct patterns of genetic activity, almost off of it involving the immune system.
“The study does not show which came first, the loneliness or the physical traits. But it does suggest there may be a way to prevent the deadly effects of loneliness”, said Steve Cole, a molecular biologist at the University of California Los Angeles. He continued, “What this study shows is that the biological impact of social isolation reaches down to some of our most basic internal processes – the activity of our genes. We have known for years that there is this epidemiological relationship between social support – how many friends and family members you have around you and a whole bunch of physical outcomes.”
Many studies of large populations have shown that people who describe themselves as lonely or as having little social support are more likely to die prematurely and to have infections, high blood pressure, insomnia and cancer. “There are two theories-the social provision theory which is basically about what other people do for you in a tangible and material sense. Like if I am sick and I have got people around me, they will take me to the doctors, they will see I take my pills,” said Cole. “The other is that there is something about being isolated and lonely that changes your body.”
His team set out to investigate the second theory. All 22,000 human genes were studied and compared and 209 stood out in the loneliest people.“These 200 genes weren’t sort of a random mishmash of genes. They were part of a highly suspicious conspiracy of genes. A big fraction of them seemed to be involved in the basic immune response to tissue damage. Others were involved in the production of antibodies-the tag the body uses to mark microbes or damaged cells for removal,” said Cole.
Source Reuters, Washington.
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