
Exploring what loneliness does to the human body - fmihaila
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/why-is-loneliness-so-toxic/article37734381/
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firasd
"Loneliness is distinct from the number of friends a person has or how much
time he or she spends alone, but is rather defined by a longing for greater
social interaction."

I think this is a good distinction to make. Something I've been realizing from
the way I see other people talk about and deal with being alone in situations,
is that I have a much higher-than-usual tolerance for solitude. (Maybe a trait
shared by others here on HN because of our interests and pastimes?) I'm pretty
sure I can be in an isolated place for months at a time. (Of course I'd want
the internet, books, music etc... being alone like in The Shining or in
solitary confinement is a whole different situation.)

~~~
snarf21
I agree. Too often we forget that connection is a human thing. We think that
snapping funny faces 4 times a day makes us connected but it is the opposite.
One thing that I noticed when I started online dating is that it was really
easy to get to know things about someone but really hard to get to know
_them_. What really makes them them? It takes human interaction to learn that.

~~~
idrios
I'd say instead of calling it the opposite of human connection, it's more like
a fraction of what human connection is. It's just enough to quell the desire
to meet up with people in real life, but it's not enough to make it feel very
meaningful.

~~~
musage
Air with 0.00002% oxygen isn't technically the "opposite" of breathable air
either, but if it fills the lungs ("quells" the space for other air), the
effects are the "opposite" of the purpose of breathing.

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kuroshit
It's a _complete_ rewrite of this article but worse

[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/well/mind/how-
loneliness-...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/well/mind/how-loneliness-
affects-our-health.html)

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lsc
>Then, the researchers gave each participant nasal drops containing rhinovirus
39, one of the viruses responsible for the common cold, sequestered them in
separate hotel rooms for five days and asked them to record how they felt.

I... don't understand how ethics boards work.

~~~
notlob
“Then, the researchers gave each participant an intranasal live-virus vaccine
against rhinovirus 39...”

Joking aside, what part of this seems improperly managed by the IRB?

~~~
lsc
not badly managed... I just didn't think it was okay to make people sick for
your study; perhaps "I don't understand what standards are applied by the
ethics board." would have been more correct.

~~~
notlob
It’s a risk/benefits balance. Rhinovirus 39 is very low risk, especially under
controlled conditions. Loneliness in the developed Western world is a growing
problem, so gaining a better understanding of what impact it will have has
clear benefits.

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VelNZ
It sounds like lonely people are adapted to being lonely by reducing viral
defenses (unnecessary without people around) and increasing bacterial
(inflammatory) defenses.

It would be interesting to test this in a third group of people whom I'd term
solitary, i.e. alone by choice and comfortable with it.

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scotty79
> [...] the researchers gave each participant nasal drops containing
> rhinovirus 39, one of the viruses responsible for the common cold

> [...]

> "Put simply, lonelier people feel worse when they are sick than less lonely
> people,"

It might be other way around. People with common cold become more social
(virus makes them like that to spread) so they suffer more from loneliness.

~~~
dunstad
I would expect that if this common cold virus had such an effect it would have
been noticed by someone before now. I'm not a doctor or anything, but it just
seems unlikely.

~~~
martinpw
There is this:

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20816312](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20816312)

"Compared to the 48 hours pre-exposure, participants interacted with
significantly more people, and in significantly larger groups, during the 48
hours immediately post-exposure [to a directly transmitted human pathogen-flu
virus]."

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drukenemo
I think many of us suffer from being alone not only in the "without people"
category but also fear silence and being with ourselves without distractions
of any kind. We want to forget the uncertainties and mysteries of life, which
can scare us tremendously.

I've been in this process in my life in which I've learned to be with myself
and face some of the fears that show up when you are with yourself only. The
fear will always be there, but it can be tamed and lose its influence on you.
Doing so has been very empowering to me. I'm no longer so much looking for
other people and constant distractions out of fear, and that is liberating. I
tend to look for those things now out of pleasure. This also has a positive
effect on who you accept in your life.

I wonder how much of what they call the physical pain of being lonely, the
toxicity and potential life-span shortening of a lonely person just fear
mismanaged.

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agumonkey
There was an article about some famous author saying people should build up a
habit, if not a pleasure, of being by themselves.

I think it's a good idea to activate some parts of your mind, although it
might suit (or reinforce) egoists.

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e40
How is theglobeandmail.com a reliable source for anything?

~~~
perardi
I can understand that it's probably not the finest source for summarizing
research, but it is the largest newspaper, and the country's de facto
newspaper of record. It's not like it's the New York Post.

~~~
Pxtl
Oh God, it's the largest now? Margaret freaking Wente writes for Canada's
largest paper?

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slitaz
Very bad article. Does not address WHY would loneliness have such an effect. I
mean "scientifically" why, not qualitatively.

~~~
brango
In a hunter-gatherer society you'd have far higher chances of survival in a
team/tribe. I don't find it surprising at all that feeling lonely (a desire to
be part of a tribe) would have such a strong impact on mental (and therefore
physical) health. It would act as a strong drive for the lonely person to
change their situation, potentially improving their chances of survival and
reproduction.

From an evolutionary perspective it's little different to starvation. In fact,
you could define loneliness as "social starvation".

