A Good Many of Us Will Be Dying Sooner Than Everyone Else
 

And not because GFF is disproportionally obese.

Sick? Lonely? Genes tell the tale - Yahoo! News

I mean...uh oh.

I'd be interested to know if us lonely people have fucked up immune systems because we're lonely, or if it's just another typical trait of the introvert.

I also guess anyone who is lonely and a hypochondriac will be sick tomorrow.

There's lonely as in, "I'm fat and depressed and no one will hang out with me", and there's lonely as in, "I enjoy being alone and don't feel the need for a whole bunch of human interaction." Does it matter which of these categories you fall into?

That coincides with something else I read awhile back about the effects of being in a relationship (especially a strong one). According to the article, married couples live longer and are more successful because of their companionship. The shared struggle of life brings to life a stronger resolve to succeed and be healthy, both consciously and unconsciously.

After I read that article last year I started to feel lonely and that I was going to die sooner than my married friends. It's been a total suckfest since, and I've desperately been trying to find a great girl that I can stay with so I can feel better and stuff.
I bet I'd get better grades in school too.

They say that about dogs too. I mean, not the marrying them part.

I don't know if they know, but glancing at the study, it doesn't look like the why matters. The test was if the people described themselves as extremely lonely, so the latter group might not have even been studied anyway.

In the study, there's a table that describes the two groups, and the lonely group were not only higher on the loneliness scale, but also on the depression scale.

I don't see why this is either surprising or a "new" study. Wasn't there a less-than-surprising medical annoucement two years ago that you *could* die from a broken heart? How is this really any different?

What if you'd typically be considered a "lonely" person, but you're not "lonely" at all.

I mean, that's really not my case, but I know people like this. They're perfectly happy, despite being alone or without a partner.

I've been in that position too in the past. Despite not having a partner, I am completely happy living without one - not lonely at all. In fact, I often enjoy my solitude.

So what I am curious about, in the end, is whether or not a person can be classified as "lonely" when they are, in fact, not at all lonely.

It's funny. I would never consider myself lonely with a family around me. Fuck having a partner - a nice to have, but not a requirement. Family? I'd be VERY lonely without. I don't think I've ever been lonely.

I guess it's a matter of perspective.

I can't fathom being considered lonely, though. Maybe my perspective is skewed.

I think that perception DOES matter. Or in other ways, I doubt that it's the physical aspect of being alone that fucks you up, but the internal feeling that you are alone that matters.

I was thinking, because lately I've been feeling REALLY lonely - I don't have anyone out here - but I remember a time when I, literally, had one friend for two years but I was really happy because I had a ton of internet friends.

So, arguably, Gamingforce might save you yet.

I imagine family can fall under "somebody that I can feel close to."

We had better hope Skills gets along with his parents. :(

Why do you say I'm lonely. I'm not lonely.

There is a difference between your brain shutting down out of depression and despair and the actual chemical makeup of your body changing because you're lonely. And we're not just talking about different seratonin levels or increased liver function or whatever, entire bodily systems are drastically altered.

You're getting caught up in the language. "Loneliness" is not the same as "being alone".

What regulates the chemical make-up and body functions, Mikey? The brain! :D

The only difference here is the amount of time either example takes. Its the same idea, only with different words used.

That's what I am saying.

Being alone is not the same as being lonely. But since we're on the same page, there...

...why does this come as a shock? If a lonely person wants to be not so lonely, that person is naturally prone to a little depression, don'tcha think? They seem to go hand-in-hand.

"I am lonely. This makes me sad."

It's a shock because their body chemistry changes. It's not just depression, it's not just unregulated chemical levels. Their genes are changing.

Uh, not really.

In broken heart and other similar traumatic disorders, the brain starts over-regulating the body. The function is a lot like a panic attack and, afterwards, there are no lasting defects, the brain can go back to normal function (in the instances where the person doesn't die, of course).

This study shows feelings can create permanent changes that are usually reserved for environmental and hereditary factors. The brain doesn't just stop functioning as it should; it changes the rules, essentially.

Instead of saying their genes are changing, wouldn't it make more sense that somehow the genes which impact the immune system also create a tendency toward social isolation? Cause and effect and all that.

All the study said was that people who describe themselves as lonely share this trait.

The connection is interesting though.

I also find it hilarious that "loneliness" can become a risk factor now. Specifically, a doctor saying "Are you lonely? Here, have some aspirin."

True, Dev.

It's kinda obvious. I've always believe that your mental health can and will reflect on and alter the development of your physical health.

Well it's kind of like that Dev. But also I think that loneliness destroys your will to fight off sickness.
So instead of laying there going "I must get up and get well" you're just like "cough cough, no one's here to help me I might as well die" and you practically will yourself into worse shape.

I figured it didn't tie in to "loneliness". Figured your immune system wasn't used to the normal perils of being out and about. Chances are that if you're lonely, then you are cut off from the outside world. Normal bacteria and germs that average Joes are rittled with day-to-day are no trouble for him to fight off. But Steve who has a job as an webpage designer and never leaves his home will get reamed by the bacteria simply because he isn't used to it.

But yeah there's also the whole "will to live -- fading" sorta thing. My grandmother (father's side) passed away, and following that, my grandpa lost all will to live and promptly passed on just under six months later. Combination of losing his wife he loved so much (broken heart) in addition to not having any friends still alive.

I don't know why, but this makes me think that "inactive bachelors are more likely to die sooner." Perhaps the loneliness relates to depression moreso. I can't quite picture a direct, clear-cut, scientific reasoning behind loners being more prone to early death. Methinks there's a hidden variable or more in this study.