"... triggering a release of 'fight or flight' stress hormones.... Subconsciously, you start to view other people more as potential threats — sources of rejection or apathy — and less as friends, remedies for your loneliness... Loneliness is a subjective feeling. People can have a lot of contact and still be lonely, or be perfectly content by themselves. For many New Yorkers, the pandemic brought too much contact with others — in crowded apartments, workplaces or subways. But the contacts were not necessarily fulfilling or desired and maybe seemed dangerous. This, too, is a condition for loneliness."
This is a long article, and the focus is on how the Covid lockdown exacerbated feelings of loneliness, but there was also some stray information about how isolation may have increased our susceptibility to the disease.
We're told that those “fight or flight” hormones — brought on by loneliness — cause the body to produce "extra inflammatory cells to repair tissue damage and prevent infection, and fewer antibodies to fight viruses." That is, the lockdown isolation — if you reacted by getting lonely — made you "less resistant to" the disease and "less responsive to the vaccine, because you have fewer antibodies to fight it."
I don't think I've seen that health issue discussed before. Does the body have to "decide" whether to go with inflammatory cells or antibodies? I can see why withdrawing from the world might cause the body to produce fewer antibodies, but this is saying that the loneliness caused by isolation generates hormones that restrict the production of antibodies. Is that true?
I was also struck by the one appearance of religion, from a man whose wife had died: "Who doesn’t see suicide as an option at that juncture of life? But I’m religious, and that would terminate any chance I have of being with my wife or my loved ones when I’m dead. I can’t jeopardize that possibility."
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31 comments:
when we look back (when THEY look back) at the Panicdemic..
I very much doubt they will find a single thing that we did, that did ANY good
It will be Almost As IF, the Government was Trying to make things Worse
Religion is one way society has developed to give people a sense of belonging even when they are now literally alone after the loss of their closest loved one. And progressives are fine with religions not based on Judeo Christian philosophy, but I can guess by this man's sentiment which philosophy he is following.
Omg. There’s so much misinformation in this article… I could cry.
https://youtu.be/4WXYjm74WFI
---Is that true?
Consider your source.
So, 50-50 shot.
The real danger is what Gospace posted about a couple days ago. The damage the "vaccines" may have caused to the body's immune system.
Pascal’s Wager.
They’re saying loneliness triggers a fight or flight response, which triggers an inflammatory response. It’s well documented the damage a consistent stress response does to the body. The body doesn’t grow or repairs itself in fight or flight mode. Our capacity to learn drops by 90% as we focus on threats. This is all designed to keep us alive in small doses but in sustained large doses, stress makes us extremely vulnerable to disease.
“But I’m religious, and that would terminate any chance I have of being with my wife or my loved ones when I’m dead. I can’t jeopardize that possibility."
I wish my Dad had thought like that. My Mom turned 90 yesterday. She celebrated their 67th anniversary 4days prior- alone. After many yrs, I’m softening and trying(every day) to forgive. I believe he thought this: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13
He was wrong.
I pray every day that we find our way to him- through G*d’s infinite love &mercy. I’m not all doom &gloom. A good friend of his(ours) died last fall &I told his widow that I hoped her husband found my Dad in some bar waiting for him and socked him a good one to smarten him up.
We sure are our own worst enemies…
Umm no. Good company is great, being alone is better than tiresome or simply boring company. I suspect a lot of projection is going on by the writer.
The problem with Pascal's wager is door number three, the self actualized life that one cannot live if one hands over his life to religion so that person can live the life that other people think is good. In his famous wager (2nd mention) Pascal assigns this freely lived life a value of zero. Freud said that people would be happier if they just did what they really wanted sometimes.
BTW, the argument for variation in the 2nd mention is that one should reserve the effect of repetition for those rare occasions when its impact is wanted to increase its rhetorical affect at those times.
""The human brain, having evolved to seek safety in numbers, registers loneliness as a threat."
Color me skeptical.
Suicide as a heavenly veto is a Catholic doctrine. It is not supported anywhere in the Bible. The doctrine comes, I think, from the idea that you must confess each sin as they come or you will be stained with it upon your demise. This is why confession is not optional and that there is a need for last rites and absolution on deathbeds. It is contrary to the doctrine that Christ died for all your sins, including the ones you will commit in the future. You don't need to constantly re-up to keep in good grace. Suicide is not the ultimate rejection of God, it is much like any other human failing which is why Christ died for us in the first place. Anyway, I think the Catholic doctrine is inconsistent with the new testament writings.
Maybe this relates to inflammaging which is chronic inflammation and the body's reaction to that state. In an inflammation the immune system responds and pours in antigens and other products and these can damage the body on their own, like firemen pouring water on a house fire. So the body is programmed to shut the inflammation response down after awhile. But sometimes inflammation doesn't get shut down - inflammaging - and becomes chronic in an area as in osteoarthritis. One reaction is exhaustion of the immune system - a sort of Peter and the Wolf response of the immune system to constant calls for assistance. Many of those who got sickest from Covid had chronic inflammation from physical diseases.
I suppose this article might be arguing that aging leads to loneliness leads to stress leads to inflammaging leads to immune system exhaustion leads to worse Covid outcomes but also leads to heart disease, diabetes and pulmonary problems.
The area seems to be of great interest at the moment, I thought it was myself, but there don't seem to be firm conclusions, except the established conclusions about inflammaging. Once get your argument about a disease process to inflammaging and you're home free.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammaging
The Association Between Loneliness and Inflammation: Findings From an Older Adult Sample - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8787084/
What about those of us who prefer a bit of solitude? Are we in constant fight or flight mode? I don't buy it.
The problem with Pascal's wager is door number three, the self actualized life that one cannot live if one hands over his life to religion so that person can live the life that other people think is good.
I see a problem with believing that living with a faith in the Divine does not, and cannot, lead to self-actualization.
A further problem is the great temptation to rely on one's own moral judgment alone to determine what kind of life to lead. We had a friend years ago who declared (quite often; it got pretty boring) "I am my own God!" He led a life of indolence, self-focus, self-indulgence, and bitterness at how the world had disappointed him. He believed, very firmly, that his was the path to self-actualization, but he was one of the unhappiest people I've ever known.
Of course it is possible to be an atheist and be happy and self-actualized (and not a d*ck who thinks he's happy and self-actualized but is obviously angry about all the pleasure the world refuses to give him, and that, incidentally, he believes is the purpose of life, like our friend). But it's definitely not automatic and it takes at least as much work as adherence to a doctrinal form of faith. Hence Pascal!
What we have lost is our developed practice of living peaceably with others.
Think about how schools work: Children are instructed by teachers in necessary subjects but look forward to going mostly to spend time with their friends. Within weeks of the Zoom class adoption (to protect poor dear teachers from the virus) a significant majority of Los Angeles high school students had completely stopped participating in any classes AT ALL.
This socialization stuff is not a one-and-done learning matter, and we're out of practice. Think of all the abuse of flight attendants and other passengers on commercial jets, shootings in cities and suicides among adolescents. People have lost or let go of their self control.
I’m skeptical of anyone who thinks they know what the human brain evolved to do.
@farmgirl,
If you're saying what I think you are, I'm truly sorry that you have suffered something so horrific.
Yes, millions of Europeans dying of contagious diseases over the centuries did cause the survivors to have greater immunity, which is why the New World populations were wiped out all at once when they encountered them.
NYT is paying by the word, I see.
I’m skeptical of anyone who thinks they know what the human brain evolved to do.
The human ego progressed to infer patterns in the signals, images in the clouds. As for evolution, the only known fitness function is to be fruitful and multiply, which has been deprecated with anthropogenic selection through choice, Choice, and force.
For some reason this makes me think of the Ayn Rand book "Anthem." My father, a therapist, told me that people have competing desires for community and individuality and every person has to find their own balance.
I'm never lonely as long as I have books. Those people need to read more.
Blogger Original Mike said...
""The human brain, having evolved to seek safety in numbers, registers loneliness as a threat."
"Color me skeptical."
Me too. Fight or flight has always been everyone for himself. The instinct for self preservation has to be taught out of you. Like in the Marine Corps. Safety in numbers is for herd animals. And Democrats.
A comment from the NYT article:
Observer, Midwest, 4h ago
"I must be mentally ill as I’m never lonely, and was not during Covid lockdowns. I’m incredibly sorry that six million people died since March, 2020 of Covid, truly, but the last two years have been the best of my life."
Interesting that there was no author byline at the top of the article. Haven't ever seen that before in an NYT article. Way down at the very bottom is this:
John Leland, a Metro reporter, joined The Times in 2000. His most recent book is “Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old,” based on a Times series. @johnleland
Surprisingly, the Amazon review of his book doesn't seem to jibe very well with his NYT article:
"An extraordinary look at what it means to grow old and a heartening guide to well-being, Happiness Is a Choice You Make weaves together the stories and wisdom of six New Yorkers who number among the “oldest old”— those eighty-five and up.
In 2015, when the award-winning journalist John Leland set out on behalf of The New York Times to meet members of America’s fastest-growing age group, he anticipated learning of challenges, of loneliness, and of the deterioration of body, mind, and quality of life. But the elders he met took him in an entirely different direction.
Despite disparate backgrounds and circumstances, they each lived with a surprising lightness and contentment. The reality Leland encountered upended contemporary notions of aging, revealing the late stages of life as unexpectedly rich and the elderly as incomparably wise."
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073P1HP8P/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
I never feel lonely when I'm by myself, and found the social isolation during COVID liberating. But at any social event, I feel like Joe Biden in a room full of Obamas.
"BTW, the argument for variation in the 2nd mention is that one should reserve the effect of repetition for those rare occasions when its impact is wanted to increase its rhetorical affect at those times."
The real issue is people who are aware, because someone once told them, that using the same phrase repeatedly is a bad idea, but lack either the skill or the determination to avoid the problem without making it obvious. These are the sorts of people who own and operate a thesaurus. The prose equivalent of putting ketchup on everything.
I am, Andrew.
I thank you. I didn’t mean to bring it up- the poor, lonely man’s words resonated w/me. Yeah, probably a Catholic thing- so is Purgatory. Where we (all) go to be tested in that refining fire to become purified. When our Mormon AI tech(breeder) comes over- we question e/others beliefs and get a good laugh, sometimes. Since I am on the topic- I will say one thing more. The lasting damage to a family that suffers such a loss- can’t be measured. It’s one of those generational losses passed down- something precious and treasured, but so fragile as to be rendered un-fixable. Unworkable. Sad sentiment honored in absolute silence. For us. The worst thing one could do to someone they profess love for.
Fight or flight- it’s visible. But, not when one refuses to see it. In animals and people. We need to find service again, towards e/other. Not just lip service!
armgirl said...
I pray every day that we find our way to him- through G*d’s...
This is multiple times you refused to spell God. It's odd, usual, and quite honestly, someone off putting.
Will you explain?
Guess I missed the original posting thread on second mentions. In the articles like the one I think I recall being posted -- Roseann?-- it serves a double function. It emphasizes the subject of the article, and it conveys additional information with each appositive. It's basic and valuable.
Similarly, and this one has become a lost art -- in a lengthier article, the writer needs to re-identify whoever he references halfway through, numerous paragraphs after its first mention. As in, "Psychiatriatist Freud maintains dreams do have meaning," or what-have-you. "Constitutional expert Althouse said the Supreme Court could use eight more Clarence Thomases" to perform its legal functions.
I wonder if there were lonely people who felt it less acutely when the pandemic normalized their situation.
Hell is other people.
I’m really sorry, Browndog. I only do so out of respect for anyone who may be Jewish as, if I understand correctly, it’s so sacred a name as not to be named. I know all of the Catholic texts and songs have switched out Yhwh for Lord. I don’t even want to write that completely.
In my trying to respect, I’ve offended. Once I started using the asterisk I felt that I should just keep using it. I have no problem saying His name- I always capitalize His pronouns. I’ve seen it done by Jewish people before… am I wrong about that?
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