![]() Simply put, loneliness can give you the chills. Furthermore, the same lab discovered that just the memory of being socially excluded is enough to make people feel colder. In 2012, researchers in the Netherlands found that just the idea of being ignored socially was enough to make a person’s body temperature drop. ![]() Try exercising in a gym, taking a workout class, or just go for a jog in the park to be social and healthy at the same damn time. In the long-term, lonely people are more likely to fall victim to issues associated with chronic inflammation: cancer, sensitivity to viruses, and infection, to name a few. It’s a sort of vicious cycle: you’re stressed and your cortisol levels are elevated, but you’re a little panicky, so your body is less sensitive to the beneficial, inflammation-lowering aspect of cortisol. While the hormone cortisol fights inflammation, the fight-or-flight response that loneliness causes drives your body to produce norepinephrine, which actually elevates your white blood cell production and shuts down your bodies natural viral defenses. Your white blood cells elevate, causing possible long-term inflammation.Unless you have plans to be productive in your solitude, try leaving your apartment to meet a friend or just walk in a populated place, like a park, to take a break from your brain. Being part of a social species is kind of a bitch, huh? We often isolate ourselves socially-by canceling plans and sending those sweet, sweet “omg, totally forgot this was tonight!” texts-when we get stressed out. When your body responds to stress by activating fight-or-flight responses, it becomes harder to shut down at the end of the day and rest, even if you desperately want to just be alone and crash. ![]() When you’re lonely, research shows that your brain can produce an excess of norepinephrine, a hormone that’s a crucial “signal during the fight or flight response.” Loneliness can feel, to our social selves, like dire straits.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |