How does loneliness affect your brain?

Spreng et al. The default network of the human brain is associated with perceived social isolation. Nature Communications. December 2020.

A recent study found fundamental structural and functional differences in the brains of lonely people. Researchers examined the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, genetics, and psychological self-assessments of over 40,000 middle-aged and older adults in the UK Biobank medical database. They then compared the MRI data of participants who reported often feeling lonely with those who did not. There were several major differences in the brains of lonely people which were primarily found in what is called the “default brain network,” a group of brain regions that are involved in inner thoughts such as remembering, future planning, imagining, and thinking about others. Detailed analyses of these regions showed that surprisingly, the default networks of lonely people were more strongly wired together and their grey matter volume in regions of the default network was greater. Moreover, bundles of nerve fibers called fornix that connects the hippocampus to the default network were better preserved in the brains of lonely people. These findings suggest that since lonely people are more likely to use imagination, memories of the past, or envisioning the future to overcome their social isolation they strengthen memory-based functions of their default networks through internally-directed thoughts and imagining social experiences. Loneliness has been increasingly turned into a major health problem, as other studies showed that older people who experience loneliness have a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia. As COVID-19 related social distancing continues, isolation and loneliness could affect our society even more dramatically. Understanding how loneliness manifests itself in the brain at the structural and functional level, and how these paradoxical findings translate into late-onset brain pathologies, would be critical to prevent both neurological diseases and related social problems.

Human-made mass is about to exceed total global living biomass

Elhacham et al. Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass. Nature. December 2020.

Humanity is rapidly approaching a new milestone in the history of our planet. The amount of manmade objects on Earth will soon outweigh all living biomass. A new study finds that each person alive today produces approximately the amount of manmade mass equivalent to their bodyweight every week. Our daily life objects such as roads, houses, cars, and clothes now weigh in at around 1.1 trillion metric tons, which is equal to the combined dry weight of all plants, animals and microorganisms on the planet. The production and accumulation of manmade objects, also known as anthropogenic mass, has accelerated since the early 1900s. The world’s plastics alone now weigh twice as much as the planet’s marine and terrestrial animals.

About 50% of the current anthropogenic mass is concrete. Bricks, asphalt, metals, plastic, and other materials make up about 19% of the total. Three major problems will arise from the outproduction of antropogenic mass. First, manufacturing consumes resources which will not be available for future generations unless objects are recycled or new raw materials are discovered. Second, even if we can achieve 100% recycling, pollution is generated and energy is used during manufacturing, so resources are still consumed. Third, many of the manufactured items will eventually be discarded which will cause serious disposal issues in the future. This is particularly alarming for the future. Nature is not infinite like so many of us would like to believe. If the current trend continues, anthropogenic mass will grow to three times the world’s biomass by 2040. In the next 20 years, we will generate as much waste as from the last 110 years together. These huge waste flows could lead to massive environmental catastrophes. This study demonstrates the brutal scale and impact of human activities on our planet. Humans are modifying the planet to such an extent that we might have already started a new geologic epoch likely called the Anthropocene.

Drug repurposing by artificial intelligence

Liu et al. A deep learning framework for drug repurposing via emulating clinical trials on real-world patient data, Nature Machine Intelligence. January 2021.

Researchers have developed a machine-learning method that analyzes very large datasets to discover which existing medications could work for diseases for which they were not prescribed. This process is called “drug repurposing,” a popular strategy to find new purposes for existing drugs that offers a rapid transition from research to clinical care. Drug repurposing can lower the risk associated with safety testing of new medications and dramatically reduce the time and money required to get a drug into the marketplace for clinical use. However, discovering new uses for existing medications still requires time-consuming and expensive randomized controlled trials to prove that a drug that is effective for one disorder will also be useful to treat another disorder. To overcome this challenge, a team designed a computational framework that works in two steps. First, it searches enormous patient care-related datasets with high-powered computation to arrive at repurposed drug candidates for a given disease. Second, it calculates and estimates effects of those existing medications on a defined set of clinical outcomes. As a proof-of-principle, researchers decided to focus on repurposing of drugs to prevent heart failure and strokes in patients with coronary artery disease. The edge of the machine learning approach is that it can analyze and compare thousands of human differences within a large population that could influence how a drug will work in the body. These confounding factors such as age, gender, race, and disease severity function as parameters in the deep learning computer algorithm on which the framework is based. This information is streamed from “real-world evidence,” which consists of longitudinal observational data about millions of patients captured by various sorts of electronic medical records. The team used insurance data for more than 1.2 million heart-disease patients. The algorithm analyzed each patient’s drug prescriptions and diagnostic tests for every visit and models input for drugs based on their active ingredients. The model yielded a total of 9 drugs with potential therapeutic benefits, three of which are currently in use and six new candidates for drug repurposing. Interestingly, two diabetes medications, metformin and escitalopram, have been found to lower the risk of heart failure and stroke in the model patient population. This study shows how artificial intelligence can speed up hypothesis generation and clinical trial processes. While this study focused on heart failure and stroke, the framework is flexible and could be applied to most complex diseases.

To attain happiness and to avoid mood disorders, which should we pursue

The messages of modern society are all too familiar to us: buy more, eat more, sleep more, take more pictures, and care less about the effects of our actions. We are encouraged to maximize pleasure while avoiding anything that inconveniences us. We cloister ourselves with our material goods and social media habits, promoting self-centeredness. This induces a fluctuating happiness in which phases of pleasure and displeasure repeatedly alternate, which can result in various mood disorders and has been linked to decreases in well-being. In this article, we are going to analyze self-centeredness and its consequences and also interpret its role in a variety of mood disorders and various areas of life.

The Self-centeredness / Selflessness Happiness Model (SSHM) is a theoretical model proposed by Dambrun et al. in 2011 [1]. This model represents different sorts of happiness that are dependent upon the self, particularly the structure of the self. They claim that self-centered psychological functioning derives from how someone perceives themselves and the belief that they are powerful, permanent, and independent. This functioning causes fluctuating happiness and afflictive affects which are also the roots of many mood disturbances. This is heavily contrasted by the perception of the self as flexible which leads to selfless psychological functioning and is a crucial factor at attaining more authentic/durable happiness [1].

After proposing this model, Michael Dambrun conducted a study in 2017 that built upon this model. According to this research, self-centered psychological functioning allows individuals to fluctuate between joy and sorrow, a vacillation that results in afflictive affects. Conversely, selfless psychological functioning gives the individual more emotional stability and feeling of harmony with the environment. They tested these hypotheses in two studies consisting of a heterogeneous sample of citizens (n=547). Analyses of these two studies indicate that self-centeredness (measured by egocentrism and materialism) and selflessness (measured by transcendence and connectedness to others) were two different psychological constructs rather than strict oppositional ideas.

In addition to showing the distinct functioning, these analyses also revealed that self-centered functioning is significantly associated with fluctuating happiness that is the root of afflictive affects. However, selflessness is linked to authentic/durable happiness, which is the result of perceiving the self as flexible and harmonious with the environment and universe. These associations are mediated by distinct psychological processes. For self-centeredness, afflictive affects play a crucial role in the correlation with fluctuating happiness in self-centered individuals.

In contrast, selfless individuals attain authentic-durable happiness that is partially mediated by emotional stability and perceiving themselves as harmonious with others and the universe (2). In our view, individuals who are more concerned about their happiness are more susceptible to mood fluctuations and disorders, while individuals who have more significant interest for the happiness of others attain more robust and durable emotions.

These studies also suggest that self-centeredness causes problems in society; as such, we will to analyze the results later.

Fluctuating happiness in the self-centered individual

The idea of the self as a real, permanent entity with its distinct boundaries results in self-centered psychological functioning. Laborit’s [3] study suggests that each organized structure in the form of an entity seeks gratifications that positively reinforce it and avoids things that risk its homeostasis. The hedonic principal is a major ruler in self-centered functioning and is deeply associated with egoism, egocentrism, an exaggerated importance given to the self, and ego inflation (through material possessions, for example) (e.g. Higgins,1997) [4].

The hedonic principle and its associations are also correlated with some personality disorders, particularly narcissistic personality disorder [5]. This principle induces the individual to focus on attaining pleasure and avoiding displeasure. Feelings of temporary happiness, joy, and gratification are the result of impulsive actions for attaining pleasure and avoiding displeasure. However, only the presence or absence of certain stimuli reinforce the individual and only give temporary pleasure and happiness (Wallace & Shapiro, 2006 [6]). The experience of pleasure depends on circumstances, is an unstable condition that may soon become neutral or may be displaced with displeasure. (i.e., hedonic adaptation, e.g., Brickman, Coates & Janoff-Bulman, 1978; Lyubomirsky, 2011 [7]). Focusing on attaining more pleasure and avoiding displeasure lead an individual to recognize and realize the impossibility of attaining valued objects, durable pleasure, and cause them to repeatedly vacillate between pleasure and displeasure and the arising affects such as frustration, nervousness, anger, hostility, or jealousy, all of which damage their well-being and health (e.g., Miller) [8]. Contrarily, altruism, also called selflessness or focusing on others’ happiness, is significantly associated with a higher quality of well-being, health, and longevity [9].

Self-centeredness cause depressive symptomatology

A self-centered lifestyle may cause not only mood disorders but also social problems that also increase the prevalence of different mood disorders. Loneliness is a big problem in contemporary society, though we mostly live in crowded cities adorned with skyscrapers. As the title describes, a study conducted in 2017 shows loneliness and self-centeredness have a reciprocal effect that cause depression and various mood disorders, as well as health and social problems [10].

Loneliness increases not only the motivation to repair or replace deficient social relationships, but also the implicit motivation for self-preservation. John T. Cacioppo et al. reported a cross-lagged analysis of 10 waves of longitudinal data (n=229) on loneliness and self-centeredness (as gauged by Feeney and Collins’s measure of choric self-focus) in a representative sample of middle-aged and other adults. Loneliness increases the implicit motivation for self-preservation, and loneliness in the current year anticipates self-centeredness in the following year beyond what is reasoned by current-year demographic variables, self-centeredness, depressive symptomatology, and overall negative mood and emotions. Their study also revealed that self-centeredness in the current year foretells loneliness in the subsequent year, a reciprocal relationship that could potentially contribute to the maintenance of loneliness [12].

Generation Me and its consequences on human mood

An increase in narcissism with some indicators of increased self-focus in Americans born after 1970 leads authors to describe that generation as “Generation Me” [5, 12]. This narcissism and self-focus are also intimately related to self-centered psychological functioning since both are formed by an exaggerated importance given to the self, ego-inflation, and so on. We think self-centered psychological functioning may also be considered as a part of this dynamic, thus being a member of Generation Me may be one of the major risk factors for narcissistic personality traits and disorder [2, 12].

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder in which there is a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by a grandiose self-view, unrealistic sense of entitlement, exaggerated feelings of self-importance, and a lack of understanding of others’ feelings [13, 14]. Narcissists who consider themselves to be superior to others, and also have unrealistic expectations for the future, become angry and aggressive when in trouble, take more resources for themselves and leave less for others, and value money, fame, and image over family, helping others, and community. Though narcissism has some benefits, like public speaking, it has lots of adverse effects on human mood and behavior and comorbidities with psychological disorders [15].

Selfless functioning

The principle of “harmony” has a primary role in the selflessly functioning individual; harmony directs all mental activities (conation, motivation, attention, emotion, cognition, behavior). Harmony and emotional stability are associated with empathy, benevolence, compassion, and deep respect; all of these have a beneficial effect on behavior and a reduction of psychological distress [2]. Many studies have revealed the results of altruism on happiness and health and have consistently found a deep and intimate connection between altruism and current and future health and well-being.

References

1. Dambrun, M., & Ricard, M. (2011). Self-centeredness and selflessness: A theory of self-based psychological functioning and its consequences for happiness. Review of General Psychology, 15 (2), 138-157.
2. Dambrun M. Self-centeredness and selflessness: happiness correlates and mediating psychological processes. Hung T-M, ed. PeerJ. 2017; 5:e3306. doi:10.7717/peerj.3306.
3. Laborit (1979) Laborit H. L’inhibition de l’action: biologie, physiologie, psychologie, sociologie. Edition Masson; Paris: 1979.
4. Higgins (1997) Higgins ET. Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist. 1997; 52:1280–1300. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.52.12.1280. [PubMed] [Cross Ref]
5. Jean M. Twenge The Evidence for Generation Me and Against Generation We Vol 1, Issue 1, pp. 11 – 16,First published date: March-01-20131177/2167696812466548
6. Wallace & Shapiro (2006) Wallace BA, Shapiro SL. Mental balance and well-being: building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. American Psychologist. 2006;61:690–701. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.61.7.690. [PubMed] [Cross Ref]
7. Brickman P., Coates D., Janoff-Bulman R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: is happiness relative? J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 36, 917–92710.1037/0022-3514.36.8.917 [PubMed] [Cross Ref]
8. Miller et al. (1996) Miller TQ, Smith TW, Turner CW, Guijarro ML, Hallet AJ. A meta-analytic review of research on hostility and physical health. Psychological Bulletin. 1996;119:322–348. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.119.2.322. [PubMed] [Cross Ref]
9. “altruism (n .)”.Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
10. Cacioppo JT, Chen HY, Cacioppo S. Reciprocal Influences Between Loneliness and Self-Centeredness: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis in a Population-Based Sample of African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian Adults. Pers Soc Psychol Bull.2017 Aug;43(8):1125-1135. doi: 10.1177/0146167217705120. Epub 2017 Jun 13.
11. Twenge JM. Generation Me: Why today’s young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled—And more miserable than ever before. New York: Free Press; 2006.
12. PubMed Caligor, E; Levy, KN; Yeomans, FE (May 2015). “Narcissistic personality disorder: diagnostic and clinical challenges.”. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 172 (5): 415–22. PMID25930131. doi:1176/appi.ajp.2014.14060723
13. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5(5th ed.). Washington [etc.]: American Psychiatric Publishing. 2013. pp. 645, 669–72.
14. Cai H, Shi Y, Fang X, Luo YLL. Narcissism predicts impulsive buying: phenotypic and genetic evidence. Frontiers in Psychology. 2015;6:881. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00881.
15. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5(5th ed.). Washington [etc.]: American Psychiatric Publishing. 2013. pp. 645, 669–72.

As human life expectancy has grown longer, it has led to the emergence of disease that were once quite rare. One of these is Alzheimer’s. At the beginning, Alzheimer’s manifests as a decrease in overall everyday activity. It becomes more apparent as mental functions decrease and cognition weakens. In advanced stages, it leads to senility, a tragic condition induced by the deterioration of neurons.

Memory loss is a leading symptom that emerges at the onset of the disease. At first, past memories remain intact and little memory lapses occur. Then mental abilities gradually disappear. Speaking and hand gestures, which are primarily controlled by the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, start to fail, accompanied by problems with recognition.

Although the underlying pathological processes in the brain tissues are not completely identified, it is known that there are disconnections between the limbic system and the frontal and temporal lobes. The intensive deterioration of the side cortical regions (the temporoparietal cortex) becomes visible in the amyloid plaques and the coiling nerve fibers as neurons degenerate and advance toward death.

Causes of Alzheimer’s

The exact cause of the disease is not known. It is in 2-4% of people over 65, and this rises to 20% of people over 85, indicating the relationship of the disease with advanced age. 1-5% of the cases are known to arise from genetic factors. A dominant mutation was identified in three different genes in a few cases diagnosed in the early stages of disease. A gene called ApoE was identified to be oversensitive in patients diagnosed with the more common type of Alzheimer’s at later ages.

One of the hypothesized causes is prions, proteins 100 times smaller than viruses that became known thanks to mad cow disease. Neither a virus nor a bacterium, prions are pathogens formed by the mutation of normal proteins produced in neural cells. Prions can be contagious. It is believed that prions can pass from person to person during a blood transfusion or dental treatment through unsterilized tools.

Dementia might be a single disorder for the layperson, but in medicine it refers to several disorders with different underlying causes. Alzheimer’s dementia is one of the neurodegenerative diseases in which neurons are destroyed; it is classified separately from frontotemporal dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, dementia from Parkinson’s disease, vascular dementia, and dementia originating from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) or a metabolic disorder.

Demographic studies have identified several factors that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The energy source of neurons can be disrupted because of a decrease in blood flow into the brain resulting from circulatory damage, especially in patients who have high blood pressure and are overweight. Therefore, recommendations for a healthy way of life hold true for this disease.

The disease, which gradually destroys the neurons and the brain, severs the connections between cells. A typical symptom of the loss of neurons in Alzheimer’s begins with the loss of the sense of smell. The death of the cells spreads slowly to regions associated with memory and then to the entire brain surface. One-fifth of brain mass might be lost as a result.

The olfactory (smell) center and the bottom part of the brain are affected at an earlier stage. The Meynert basal nucleus in the central nervous system produces a substance (neurotransmitter) required for communication between neurons. The presence of this substance is important for retrieving memories from the archives – that is, for remembering. An apparent decrease in acetylcholine levels prevents processing of information, and because short-term memory is negatively affected, it may become very hard to remember events that have only recently happened.

As losses increase, the acetylcholine produced in the basal nucleus decreases. A remarkable finding about Alzheimer’s is the protein buildup in neurons and gaps in certain regions of the brain. Some doctors believe that this protein buildup causes the disease, while others argue that it is the body’s response to the disease. The result is the same: protein plaques act like poison that damage the metabolism of neurons, and the patient’s cognitive performance decreases because neurons cannot communicate with each other.

Increasing risk for relatives

Kinship seems to be an important risk factor for almost a third of Alzheimer’s patients. The probability that an Alzheimer’s patient’s siblings and children will have the disease is four times higher than for other people. The genes that indicate genetic factors have been identified in some families. For example, the epsilon-4 allele is found in 40% of Alzheimer’s patients, while it is present only in 10% of the healthy population. Yet this finding does not necessarily mean that everyone who has this gene will get sick. As researchers put it, the highest risk factor for Alzheimer’s is age. The older a person gets, the greater the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Although the effect of gender is not exactly known, women have been found to be twice as likely to have the disease.

Among factors that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s are nicotine, alcohol, obesity, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, thyroid function disorders (hypo- or hyperthyroid), frequent concussions, unhealthy diet, heart attack, and paralysis. It is also interesting that depression, anxiety, and increased nervousness may develop at the onset of the disease.

Alzheimer’s and loneliness

In Alzheimer’s as well as other types of dementia, dementia is found to be triggered by lack of mental activity, which is in part connected to loneliness and isolation from people. In fact, loneliness is considered to be a preliminary symptom of Alzheimer’s. A study performed with 79 older people (43 female and 36 male) who had symptoms of dementia found that the amount of amyloid plaque was seven times higher in the brains of the participants with a greater decline in mental abilities. In addition, these patients suffered from severe cases of loneliness.

Is poor sleep a risk factor?

Observations in sleep laboratories indicate that prolonged periods of poor sleep increase the risk of Alzheimer’s. Even a single restless night without deep sleep can increase the beta-amyloid concentration, or Alzheimer’s protein, in the brain fluid. In case of several subsequent nights of restless nights, an increase is observed in the levels of tau protein, a second protein associated with the illness. The findings obtained by a team of specialists led by David M. Holtzman from Washington University Department of Medicine show that sleep disorders that are untreated for a long time increase the risk of Alzheimer’s.

The brain may not be cleaned sufficiently without deep sleep, hence the increase in the levels of protein particles. Yet it has been found that the amounts of beta-amyloid return to normal after a few days of sound sleep. The risk increases after a prolonged lack of deep sleep. It is thus believed that the risk of Alzheimer’s increases in people with sleep apnea who wake up repeatedly during the night because of problems breathing.

Yet it is not clear whether the increase in the amounts of tau and beta-amyloid proteins is related with the onset of the disease and how the findings should be interpreted. The reason for the confusion is that the two proteins also change shape and cause buildups in healthy people, not just in patients. It is therefore not known whether risk of Alzheimer’s can be lowered with a night of sound sleep.

We can say that warning signs can be found in sleep. Neuroscientists at the University of Toronto have discovered one of the early signs of sleep behavior. They have found that people who beat or kick themselves in their dreams are 80-90% more likely to develop a neurodegenerative disorder such as Parkinson’s and dementia at a later age, and this condition, also known as REM sleep disorder,[1] could be early signs of a brain disorder that may emerge within fifteen years.

Another study by Boston University researchers has revealed a correlation between REM sleep and Alzheimer’s. The researchers have found that a reduction in REM or dream-sleep phase increased the risk of disease. On the other hand, not every nightmare is a symptom of the disease. The predictive factor is the desire to move taking place during REM sleep. We spend about a quarter of our sleep in the REM phase.

The more efficient the sleep, the less the amyloid plaques

How long we sleep at night might predict how well our memory will work when we get older. According to Dr. Yo-Elju, sleep disorders seem to contribute to the formation of amyloid plaques. A two-week study conducted at the Faculty of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis collected data from about 100 people aged 45-80. Researchers used sleep behavior surveys and machine measurements. A quarter of the participants had signs of amyloid plaques.

The participants spent eight hours a night in bed. They were disturbed by being woken at different intervals. It was seen in the end that those who were woken more often had greater amyloid plaques. Interestingly, those who slept more than 6.5 hours had the same condition. The correlation between poor sleep and amyloid plaques is striking, yet the findings in this study do not provide evidence for a cause-effect relationship. Therefore, longitudinal studies are needed to find out whether sleep disorders contribute to formation of plaques in the brain. To sum up, these studies indicate that quality of sleep matters more than length of sleep. It seems more important to have a shorter sleep with a complete REM phase than a ten-hour sleep without REM sleep.

An important advice

It is important for families to take care of their elderlies in their old age. It is worth noting that the Qur’an refers to weakness of mental faculties in old age followed by an advice to give in charity and reminding of His favors including spouses, children, and good, healthy sustenance:

God has created you, then He causes you to die. And among you are those who are deferred to the age of senility so they do not know, of what they once knew, anything at all. Surely God is All-Knowing, All-Powerful. And God has favored some of you above others in provision. And yet (while it is We Who provide them), those who are more favored do not consent to share their provision with those (slaves) whom their right hands possess, so that they might be equal with them in this respect. How then do they deny God’s grace and bounty (and associate partners with Him)? God has made for you, from your selves, mates (spouses), and has made for you from your mates children and grandchildren, and has provided you with good, wholesome things. Do they, then, believe in falsehood and deny the blessings of God? (16:70-72)

This allusion to family as a favor makes much sense thinking of the huge difference in the quality of life and health the elderlies have depending on the company of children and grandchildren and the lack thereof. As an example, I can cite my own father who lived to the age of 102 with his six children and fifteen grandchildren in the same apartment building. He never felt loneliness thanks to his many visitors, who conversed with him every day. He never became senile. 

Another interesting point to note is that this chapter of the Qur’an is Nahl, which means “honeybee.” Considering the fact that the main nutrition for our brain is glucose, consumption of honey and other food mentioned in the same chapter, like dates and grapes, may be considered useful to prevent mental diseases like Alzheimer’s.

References

Nancy J. Donovan ve ark. (2016): Association of Higher Cortical Amyloid Burden with Loneliness in Cognitively Normal Older Adults. JAMA Psychiatry, 2016; DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.2657.

[1] REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is the period of sleep that starts 30-90 minutes after falling asleep in which one has dreams. This phase of deep sleep takes up about 20% of one’s overall sleep. It is the most refreshing period of sleep during which muscles are completely relaxed, eyelids move rapidly, and noradrenalin and serotonin are absent.

Loneliness is a serious public health concern, akin to both obesity and smoking. Why is it not treated as such? Through faith, we can combat this growing crisis.

Loneliness is a state when people are unable to share their inner world with anyone around them. It is very natural that a person desires to be alone from time to time. When this is a short term desire, it can be a means of acquiring harmony with life; however when it becomes chronic, it is harmful for human health. Therefore, solitude is like a sword which has two sharp sides. Solitude in itself is not good or bad; rather the period and severity of it defines if it is good or bad. The severity of loneliness is not measured by how many people that individual has in their social environment; it is measured by how the individual feels in his inner world. In modern societies, loneliness is an important topic of multidisciplinary research, especially in our times due to overuse of social media, as “loneliness” is quickly becoming endemic, threatening our public and individual health.

One of the leading factors behind the increase of loneliness is the spread of immigration, which suddenly tears people from their original cultures and from their families. With the social bonds weakened or broken, loneliness is more severely and increasingly felt. For example according to the 2006 records, 29 million people in the US, a predominantly immigrant nation, were living alone. When compared to the records from 1980, this means a 30% increase in the number of people living alone. Another shocking number is that while 10% of people said they wouldn’t share their personal matters or trust with another person in 1985, this number increased to 25% in 2004.

In our times, loneliness and isolation have become as risky as smoking and obesity. The latest research in neurobiology and clinical research has shown that chronic loneliness has negative effects on the heart, and the immune and nervous systems. Contraction and resistance are much higher in the veins of people experiencing chronic loneliness. Blood pressure rises with the arteries narrowed and shrunk. This makes the heart beat abnormally faster, and this results in the corrosion and laceration of the capillaries. According to epidemiological studies, people who feel alone tend to have shorter life spans and illnesses such as heart disease and depression are at higher risk. They’ve also proven that people socially isolated or feeling lonely are more likely to catch a viral infection.

Studies have shown that, an individual can still feel lonely even though the number of people around them is high. Their social environment, statue, reputation, and property are only of formal assistance and they do not directly prevent an individual from feeling alone. Spiritual loneliness can exacerbate this feeling. Without a deep spiritual life to seek comfort in, they can fall further into depression when faced with problems.

Genetic thermostat and activation of loneliness

There are parts of the human brain which almost work as a thermostat and activate loneliness. Since the information for these parts of the brain are encoded in our genes they are called the genetic thermostat. This genetic thermostat, which we have inherited from our parents, has the duty to adjust the time of response we give to a trigger. Socio-cultural factors and genetic inheritance are assigned to determine the thermostat’s intensity and period of operation. These principles are mostly shaped in childhood and determine the threshold and intensity of the loneliness that is felt later on. In other words, the pain and suffering caused by loneliness depends on the genetic thermostat of the individual. In some genetic structures, the activation settings of the thermostat are low; and in some they are high. Therefore, the feeling of loneliness resulting from social isolation triggers a different response in every person. Even though clinical loneliness does depend on genetics to some extent, it is a curable. Around half of the factors that are behind feeling lonely depend on genes. A study about loneliness conducted on 8,683 twins showed that genetic treatments are 37% effective in treating this feeling. In summary, a departure from our social environment makes us go through different levels of pain depending on our genetic thermostat. Therefore, loneliness is felt in different forms in different natures.

The biological consequences of loneliness

Our body gives out different messages through pain and suffering. In the same way pain and suffering gives us messages of something going wrong in our body, extreme loneliness also has effects on the body, alerting us of something going wrong. Anxiety and physiological changes in our body give out alarming signals when our relationships weaken. These signals warn us that we have to change our attitude and actions in a way that will strengthen our relationships.

It has been observed that stress molecules (cortisol in saliva, adrenalin in urine) increase significantly in people who go through deep phases of loneliness. It was also observed that the body’s sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for a “fight and escape” response, increased these activities, too. In people who are lonelier, the amygdala is triggered; this further heightens a person feeling of risk. These people are constantly on edge, their “flight” response activated. Therefore, people going through chronic loneliness have very low sleep quality. They wake up tired or even exhausted. They take less pleasure from activities that give rest and bring joy to other people. The degree of their satisfaction and happiness is low. They start losing the joy of living.

Another area of the body affected is the ventral striatum area, which is the award mechanism activated by factors such as food or money, as well as social feelings like sympathy. In a study conducted at the University of Chicago, the activity of the ventral striatum in 23 female university students feeling deep loneliness was measured with magnetic resonance scanning. The study showed that when these females were shown pictures of laughing and happy people, there was a significant decrease in their award mechanism compared to a normal person. So the deep feeling of loneliness locks the award mechanism of the brain, preventing the person from taking pleasure from life, thus leading the person to anxiety and sorrow.

Deep loneliness also affects the activity of the prefrontal cortex of the brain. This is the area of willpower; it brings a limit to activities triggered by instincts, such as eating or drinking. Field studies and surveys have shown that people feeling deep loneliness are more likely to have an unhealthy diet, increase their consumption of alcohol, and live a passive life style without exercising. Moreover, in the management control conducted in labs and that require prefrontal cortex activation, lonely people show little success. The prefrontal areas of these people do not respond fast enough, leading them to little success in these experiments.

Lonely people are more emotionally unbalanced when faced with stress. They find it very hard to control their emotions. They are more sensitive to negative hints when they are among people. They tend to interpret social interactions negatively rather than positively. In one study, the words that address the emotional state of a person were flashed on a computer screen with different colors. Later on, the colors of these words were asked to people feeling deep loneliness and to people who did not feel lonely. People feeling deep loneliness gave delayed answers about the colors of words such as “isolation, rejection, exclusion.” The people who did not feel lonely showed no such delay. This experiment shows that the human brain was created to give alarm signals in case of deep loneliness.

Social bonds and interactions enable a person to be open and accessible to other people. To make this openness and accessibility beneficial is both easy and difficult, simple and complex. People go through periods of wanting to be alone – with themselves or with God – just as they go through periods of desiring more social contact. A healthy person moves freely from state to state. To discover and control this oscillation between the two needs is to learn the best way to manage our lives.

How can deep loneliness be cured?

Since social isolation and loneliness affect people differently, a person should know the nature of his genetic thermostat and should make an effort to stay at his individual comfort zone. Every person has zones or intervals where they feel comfortable expressing their emotions, ideas and attitudes. Similarly, every person has different zones and thresholds for loneliness. Every person needs to understand their limits. Just as our fingerprints are unique, so, too, is the amount of solitude we need.

For those already suffering from loneliness, one of the best cures is a change in point of view. In other words, loneliness is cured by changing the person’s focus from the negative to the positive. People lead better lives when they adhere to the maxim, “Those who attend to the good side of everything contemplate the good. Those who contemplate the good enjoy life” (Nursi, The Letters, Epigrams – Seeds of Truth). People who understand and practice this in their lives have obtained the key to happiness.

A deep, personal relationship with faith is also a major cure for loneliness. Friends and earthly occupations only give comfort to a person until the grave. If the person who is isolated has very solid spirituality, and has acknowledged God as his real friend, he never undergoes a feeling of loneliness that would otherwise destroy his health. With faith and hope, the dungeon of loneliness becomes a school of imprisoned Prophet Joseph. Faith reminds him: “If you want a friend, God is sufficient. Indeed, if He is a friend to you, so is everything. If He is pleased with you, even if the whole world is displeased, it is of no consequence” (Nursi 23rd Letter, 21st Gleam). Sorrow, grief, sadness will not stop by you. Even if they do stop by you, they are bearable since they come from Him. They turn into worship by activated patience. Through faith, a person can achieve fulfillment in both this world and the next.

References

• Miller, G. 2011. “Why Loneliness Is Hazardous to Your Health.” Science. Vol. 331. 14 January, pp. 18-140. www.sciencemag.org
• Cacioppo, J. T. and Patrick W. 2008. Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection. W.W Norton Company. New York.