[HN Gopher] Cumulative loneliness and subsequent memory function
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Cumulative loneliness and subsequent memory function
Author : bookofjoe
Score : 44 points
Date : 2022-08-04 20:09 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
| RobRivera wrote:
| it's a challenge that is unique to everyone's journey, to
| overcome loneliness.
|
| I invested significant energy into being minimal and happy by
| myself. it varies with some success but it is a very personal
| journey.
| yamrzou wrote:
| Keep in mind that loneliness is different from being alone.
| Loneliness is a state of mind linked to wanting human contact but
| feeling alone. People can be alone and not feel lonely, or they
| can have contact with people and still experience feelings of
| isolation.[1]
|
| I believe that loneliness stems from one's inability to be
| friends with oneself, to enjoy one's company. This quote by
| Osho[2] comes to mind:
|
| " _The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look
| paradoxical to you, but it's not. It is an existential truth:
| only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of
| love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of another
| person--without possessing the other, without becoming dependent
| on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without
| becoming addicted to the other. They allow the other absolute
| freedom, because they know that if the other leaves, they will be
| as happy as they are now. Their happiness cannot be taken by the
| other, because it is not given by the other._ "
|
| [1] _Loneliness: Causes and Health Consequences_ --
| https://www.verywellmind.com/loneliness-causes-effects-and-t...
|
| [2] _The Capacity To Be Alone_ --
| http://www.arrowpsychotherapy.com/blog/capacitytobealone
| e_joules wrote:
| But in this particular case I bet it is the actual state of
| being alone that is the cause of mental decline, the mechanism
| being that one is literally not using all the parts of the
| brain that one developed to socialize with others.
| svnt wrote:
| This is a great point for those worried about the impact on
| themselves.
|
| Given the structure of the study I wonder whether the potential
| relationship between extroversion and loneliness as reported
| was explored. Ie do introverts report loneliness less in
| general?
|
| In one example of extroverts, a person could be accustomed to
| interacting with important others socially and loses them. This
| loss of regular experience of memory recall generated by many
| social interactions could potentially lead to under practice of
| memory functions generally. It also might make it more likely
| they would report loneliness.
|
| Some similar studies exist for removing elderly from their
| homes and/or purging them of their "unnecessary stuff." Again
| here the memory function triggered by their regular visual
| stimulation of memories associated with their stuff may be
| sustaining those brain functions.
|
| I think instead of trying to associate bad feelings with bad
| outcomes we should be asking what combinations of individual
| tendencies and situations produce those bad feelings, and how
| might those bad feelings be linked to very real experiential
| losses that might be sustained relatively easily.
|
| One mitigation might be to record the elderly's persons friends
| and/or house/belongings and make them available in VR.
| kayodelycaon wrote:
| Loneliness can have multiple sources. I'm a relatively social
| person who also enjoys his own company. I often feel lonely
| around people I don't feel a connection with. It reminds me of
| growing up being the only "creative" in a family who saw art of
| any kind as a frivolous pursuit.
| gwill wrote:
| that's a wonderful quote. thanks for sharing.
| JacobThreeThree wrote:
| Great comment.
|
| This reminds me of the survival reality TV show 'Alone', which
| is an interesting, if not contrived, experiment into how "being
| alone" can affect you psychologically, or not, depending on the
| person.
|
| https://www.history.com/shows/alone
| JamesBarney wrote:
| I wonder which way the association runs. It seems lie 90-95% of
| the time it's a confound
|
| I wouldn't be surprised if early stages of cognitive dysfunction
| or health issues make it harder to keep/see friends.
| norwalkbear wrote:
| I'm having a hard time taking research like this seriously after
| the Alzheimer's research fraud.
| kayodelycaon wrote:
| I absolutely believe it. Even if I manage to do the same things I
| normally do and avoid eating more, my depressive episodes wreck
| my physical health. Something about depression causes changes
| that no amount of healthy living can stop.
|
| And of course every time I see these studies, I wonder just how
| screwed I'm going to be by the time I'm 40... XD
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