Is Loneliness Genetic?
A group of researchers out of UCLA did a study on the health effects of social isolation.
"In their 'lonely' volunteers, various genes tended to be 'over expressed' compared with those at the opposite end of the scoring scale.
These often had known links to the body's mechanisms for fighting off disease, such producing inflammation. Too much inflammation can damage tissues and cause disease.
Other genes, including those thought to be important in fighting viruses and producing immune antibodies, were less active compared with the non-lonely volunteers.
Dr Steven Cole, who led the study, said: 'What this shows us is the biological impact of social isolation reaches down into some of our most important basic internal processes - the activity of our genes.'"
"He said the differences he found were not connected to other factors such as the age, wealth or health of the people involved, but were specifically connected to their feelings of social isolation.
They were unconnected with the size of the person's social network.
Dr Cole said: 'What counts, at the level of gene expression, is not how many people you know, it's how many you feel really close to over time.'"
As always correlation does not equal causation, but it's interesting either way.
BBC
"In their 'lonely' volunteers, various genes tended to be 'over expressed' compared with those at the opposite end of the scoring scale.
These often had known links to the body's mechanisms for fighting off disease, such producing inflammation. Too much inflammation can damage tissues and cause disease.
Other genes, including those thought to be important in fighting viruses and producing immune antibodies, were less active compared with the non-lonely volunteers.
Dr Steven Cole, who led the study, said: 'What this shows us is the biological impact of social isolation reaches down into some of our most important basic internal processes - the activity of our genes.'"
"He said the differences he found were not connected to other factors such as the age, wealth or health of the people involved, but were specifically connected to their feelings of social isolation.
They were unconnected with the size of the person's social network.
Dr Cole said: 'What counts, at the level of gene expression, is not how many people you know, it's how many you feel really close to over time.'"
As always correlation does not equal causation, but it's interesting either way.
BBC
posted by 6-3-2 at 12:52 AM
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