Loneliness Harms Health: Why You Need Friends; Happy Bday Casey!
So, first on the agenda, family bdays! Casey is turning 10 today! He is one of the grandsons. Happy birthday Casey & wish we could be there to celebrate. Have fun!!!
On to FRIENDS! Since I have been sharing pics of my 35 year high school friend reunion with you all, I thought this article was appropriate for right now. Thx sis Bethe for sharing with me as I have been short of time in reading some of these articles.
I think we all agree that being with loved ones, family & friends can be good for us. With all this social media & technology, face to face interaction seems to be fading away. Even talking on the phone is going by the wayside. Texting & the rest is taking over. Instead of meeting with friends or calling them on the phone, we pick up the cell phone & text OR we say hi on Facebook or Twitter. Hey, I am guilty of this too as it is so simple to just do the above. BUT, studies show that face to face interaction is good for our health AND that being alone or "isolated" can actually harm our health & may cause hypertension & impact the immune system. The article below speaks to the importance of bringing back actual people to people interaction! What a novel & crazy idea!
The article is long but I did not want to eliminate any of it. Breeze thru it & then come back when you have more time. A good read!Here are a couple more reunion pics & the article that may change the way you interact. I hope it does! If you missed my weekend posts, both Saturday & Sunday had more reunion pics!
Our last dinner before before we headed home the next day. Fresh & healthy food on the menu!
Our first stop on arrival in Colorado. A very cool place called Wisdom Tea House . Great food & all kinds of tea. A future post to come on this place!
Loneliness Harms Health: Why You Need Friends
Can loneliness hurt your health? And what defines loneliness?
Even as modern technology increases our access to other people, our intimate relationships are becoming more scarce. Families are smaller and relatives don’t always live in close proximity anymore. More people work from home, and busy schedules and “to do” lists keep us from connecting in a meaningful way.
That same modern technology that permits us to easily connect with people from all over the world also tends to get in the way of time spent in real face-to-face relationships. Our inborn desire for intimate relationships with other human beings is, for many of us, not being met.
I recently happened across an article reporting on a University of Chicago study that says that long-term loneliness can be a risk factor for hypertension in people aged 50 and older, even when depression and stress are factored out. The study also took other risk factors, like body-mass index, smoking, alcohol use, and demographic differences, into account. Researchers concluded that loneliness is a unique health-risk factor in its own right.
A 2007 article in Medical News Today links the risk of developing Alzheimer’s in old age to social isolation — feeling disconnected from a social environment and close relationships and a general feeling of abandonment. This feeling of loneliness can happen even when one has many social contacts, and increase with age as our circle of friends and family gets smaller after retirement, death of loved ones, and loss of mobility. Researchers found that loneliness was linked to lower levels of cognitive function as well as more rapid decline of function. People who identified themselves as lonely experienced double the risk of developing Alzheimer’s than those who described themselves as least lonely. Notably, actual physical isolation was less important than perceived isolation.
Studies indicate that a sense of isolation disrupts not only will power and perseverance, but key cellular processes deep within the human body. So said a 2008 article on Psychcentral.com. The article goes on to say that chronic loneliness belongs among risk factors such as smoking, obesity, or lack of exercise, and feeling a sense of social connection is vital to mental well-being and physical health.
A 2008 article by USA Today suggested that the pain of loneliness is less about being alone than about feeling alone. Loneliness is a biological process and the effects of this feeling of loneliness can take a physical toll. The mind/body connection is a powerful one.
Loneliness can hamper the immune system, reported WebMD in 2005. A study of college freshmen showed that social isolation can have a stressful impact on the immune system.
Search the web and you will find that such studies about the impact of isolation and loneliness on the body abound, and most point to the importance of perceived loneliness rather than specifics about actual social interaction. Most of us have had at least some experience with feeling lonely even while in a crowd. You can’t gauge loneliness by how many people with whom you surround yourself.
How many “friends” do you have on Facebook and other online networking platforms? Do these people meet your need for companionship? The social networking available online can help ease the sense of isolation, especially for people with mobility problems, but only to a point.
Getting out of the house and into social situations can help us to feel like active participants in the world, but it is still not enough. What we need, and what is increasingly lacking, is face time with people we feel comfortable with, people we trust, people with whom we can let our hair down and be ourselves. In my book, face time means turning off the trappings of technological distractions. No texting while visiting, please.
When I was raising young children as an “at home mom,” my life was the perfect storm for isolation and loneliness. Most mothers in my neighborhood were working and I lived 1,000 miles away from parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other assorted family members who would otherwise enrich my daily life.
Fortunately, I made a couple of friends who, although we now are also geographically separated, remain part of my most cherished memories of that period.
One was a fellow at home mom. Living in the same neighborhood, we saw each other often, but set aside some “coffee time” every other week or so, alternating in each other’s homes. While our children played, we sipped coffee and shared our lives, our hopes, and our dreams. Our simple cup of coffee generally lasted two or three hours.
The other was a working mom, a teacher, who every so often would drop by for afternoon tea before going home to prepare dinner for her family. The children played while we laughed and cried and supported one another through all manner of good times and bad. Sometimes talk was serious, sometimes silly. Always enriching.
Those associations have remained with me as some of the most valuable friendships of my life because I knew that I could (and still can) count on these women for support and mutual respect. I didn’t need a lot of friends to stave off the feeling of isolation, just a few solid friendships. There was no way that I could have felt the pang of loneliness while these women were in my close circle, and it did us all a world of good.
It always comes back to that old mind/body connection. We all need to feel part of something meaningful, and we owe it to ourselves to make an effort to connect and reconnect with our fellow human beings. Our health and well-being depends on it.
Writer Ann Pietrangelo embraces the concept of personal responsibility for health and wellness. As a person living with multiple sclerosis, she combines a healthy lifestyle and education with modern medicine, and seeks to provide information and support to others. She is a regular contributor to Care2 Causes. Follow on Twitter @AnnPietrangelo
PS: No Photoshop either!!!
Categories: Motivation/Support, Life, Life Experiences, Inspiration, Family
Tags: life experiences family social interaction friends unplug
Friendships are invaluable and being together in person, nothing like it. I love technology and spend countless hours on my Mac and love it. I am careful not to waste time but again, I am as busy as the next person. Oh but to spend time with friends, nothing replaces it and nothing fills us up like it You are absolutely right. Thank you for a great post. I guess balance is the key and answer to it all
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Thx for visiting & yes, balance!
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For some reason this post makes me think of the time I spent with my family this weekend. I made an on-purpose effort to leave the Internet alone and do some activities with my children. So glad I did. Yes, I can survive without weekend computer-ing. And now I can't wait until next weekend.
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Josie, now that sounds like a plan!
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I am focusing again on the PHOTOS and wishing you saw yourself as we see you.
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Hey, Miz, at least I put them up there with no photoshop. That is a step in itself!
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I definitely think having face-to-face contact with people is a necessity. Loneliness can lead to depressed feelings and depressed feelings can lead to destructive behavior. Just an hour catching up with a friend for a cup of coffee can be a real mood booster.
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I agree... balance is the key.
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I think FB, twitter, blogs, and the like can be great tools for friendships, support, and knowledge, but they do not take the place of face to face contact with people IMHO.
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I agree, Steve. Everyone had such great comments!
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I completely agree and sometimes I think of what is will be like in 10 years. Scary!
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Sian, now that is a thought I don't want to deal with right now! :-O
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Yes, face to face contact is important but technology can bridge some gaps that weren't there before ... if used properly..It is all in how we use it..as usually it boils down to choices...and loneliness can be felt in a crowd....
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Jules, as always, great points & so true!
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The pattern which unfolds, in every aspect of the universe, is one of an outward broadcast. That is, as the stars move further out into space, and further aways from one another, so too do human beings.
It is my own opinion that this is supposed to happen. Yes, I do believe in being social and intermingling with friends in social settings, and I believe it improves ones quality of life. Still, the flow of society, which is the supreme current, is making this less opportune.
This time of technology, this IS our time, and this IS our place. When I see two kids texting one another from across the room, I cringe. When see two people texting one another from across the country, I think; MIRACLE.
We live in an amazing age, and we also live in a scary age. Good or bad, right or wrong, it is WHERE we live.
One of your best Jody!
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Roy.. you always have very thoughtful comments & this is one for sure. Very good points & yes, good & bad to everything.
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First off, your grandson is adorable!
And I agree with the article. It's amazing how much our lives have changed int he last 10-15 years with regards to online/cell phones/socialization.
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Thx AFG & yes, like Sian said.. what will it be in 10 more years! :-O
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Very important topic!!
I've looked at my hand, with fingers spread and thought that was the way we go with time, becoming further from each other. Just as the hand can make a fist, we can bring ourselves closer to others.
Thanks for this reminder, Jody!
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Dr. J... another great comment from you!
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