Is Social Disconnection Comparable to Smoking? | Julianne Holt-Lunstad | TEDxBYU

[@gwichonist]

Hard to believe this great talk has less than 8,000 views. What a great summary of her research in such a convincing way! Thanks Dr. Holt-Lunstad.

[@silvialozeva]

Prioritizing social connections should be high on everyone's' list. Such a memorable talk: loneliness - a public health concern.

[@tedxriveroaks9606]

So glad to see you (finally) have a TEDx Talk! I cite you all the time when I speak about the effects of loneliness and social isolation. Your work has shone a light and is making a difference for numerous people worldwide. Thank you!

[@AndyProctor]

"It's time to prioritize our relationships like our life depends on it, because it does." WOW. Social connection is so important for our health. I need more "vitamin C" (Connection).

[@dr.allundeen7815]

I would have never guessed that social connection & loneliness would play such a prominent role in human health. I had a feeling that there could be a link when I noticed changes in patients, friends and myself during the lockdowns in 2020. Thank you Dr. Julianne for bringing all of this information to light. You are truly saving lives!

[@katherineburgener1867]

This is very interesting and informative. I am putting social connection higher on my list of things for self-care.

[@porchlight-connection4489]

Julianne's work is foundational for Porchlight Health. Awesome to see this new video bring it all together!

[@simonerussell1154]

One of my favorite researchers ever. Too bad it's not as simple though as "If you want to have a friend, you have to be a friend" because everyone in my community is introverts and want to be left alone with their family.

[@rebekahbannink7295]

Impressed and inspired!!! Thank you!

[@devonmckenna]

Loved this - wish this came in my suggestions earlier!

[@NasimFarsi]

Amazing research that could not be more timely! Hopefully, we will see more policies and products that truly put your research results front and center in the years to come.

[@toddwalker1820]

Julianne, this was amazing!! Thank you for your research and for this presentation!!

[@hennore]

Great info! Looking forward to interacting with friends and family more now that restrictions are being lifted 😊

[@TheCynthiaguy]

Excellent!

[@redasarhani7956]

Legend

[@ParisianThinker]

No thought given to those whose spouse died & their spouse was their person they reliéd on. The elderly often have no remaining family Members.

[@thelivingexperience88]

I love you

[@invisiblesun6595]

Easier said than done. When you try for nearly half a century and fail REPEATEDLY the failures began to haunt you. What's left then? Maybe WWIII isn't such a bad deal after all

[@sumnerbrent]

I'm interested in your comment. I don't want to guess your meaning. Do you mean "failed repeatedly" at creating social connections? That's a subject that interests me.

[@melindaulin9920]

Wow

[@traktoreaktor4510]

Okay, so - being obese is linked to high blood pressure. The best approach is to tackle the problem itself - obesity. The next best thing - and much better than doing nothing at all - is to take blood pressure medication (and potentially medication lowering cholesterol, but the research seems "mixed" with regard to side-effects etc., whereas artificially reducing blood pressure to normal levels significantly reduces the mortality due to cardiovascular disease). You're still at risk for diabetes, but - if you cannot (yet) bring up the willpower to lose weight, eat healthily and exercise, then taking medication will bring the relief of knowing your heart and brain is protected, and can be a motivation ("I am safe for now, and if I can lower my weight just a bit, I can lower the dose of my medication, in collaboration with my doctor"). Now, social stress - including work stress, and social isolation - increases blood pressure, too. To tackle social isolation is much more difficult, though, because it doesn't solely depend on you having an "iron will to make a change". Many factors such as personality cannot be quickly adapted (like a healthy diet and exercise can, in theory, be implemented from one day to the other - with certain "social deficits", this is downright impossible). So, what happens if you give the person in social isolation a blood pressure medication to lower the impact of that stress? What if you also apply concepts of ACT and mindfulness so the person can feel more "in solitude" than "lonely"? Doing sports - the best motivation is that friend who picks you up to exercise with. You wouldn't wanna just cancel the plan and have him come pick you up for nothing - this is a great motivation, for sure! Now, if there is nobody who'd want to pick you up, and you can't motivate yourself - as the case for long-term social isolation coming with embittered negative social cognition? What if you "accidentally" exercised because you were playing a really amazing game in VR that makes you do "jumping jacks" in your living room, but you didn't even notice it until later, when looking at your phone, realizing your smart watch has awarded you with "exercise hearth score" points? Also, I'd argue that some of the social reasons for longevity are, in fact, "medical treatment" factors, that just required social support as the "initiator". Meaning, if I have a heart attack, living alone, be it in social isolation or just because there is nobody who checks on me every five minutes, but only once or twice a day - then yes, this can lead to my death. But the thing making the difference between life and death is NOT the social support who calls the ambulance - if there were no ambulance, the social support could be abundant, and you'd still die. It's the health care that saves the person. And we can replace the social support - smart watches can now even log EEG. This is still in "early stages", but used to monitor patients remotely and has seen massive increases during the pandemic - and has been shown to be very beneficial. In order to not DIE from a heart attack, it doesn't matter if a relative or an AI calls the emergency services - it only matters THAT the emergency services arrive and you get treated as early as possible. I'd argue that technology is preferable even if living with a partner, because it reduces stress on the partner if a high-risk patient is monitored by an AI. Because the partner can then sleep at ease, not monitor if their spouse is still breathing every time they wake up at night. Fun fact: With the exception of the EEG monitoring, I have implemented all the interventions I mentioned above. I consider myself resilient against "social connection addiction" now; I could (in theory) live in China just as well as I can live here. I am no longer at risk for a pandemic and a lockdown shattering my social life and my job as they did in 2020. I work remotely, and I am living in social isolation with no contact to the "inner circle of relationships" at all - it's void, in my case. I do volunteer as a research participant whenever I can, though - that is for paid AND UNPAID research, including (especially preferred by me) real-life lab studies with EEG + VR (for example, but I'm also happy to just lay around in an MRI, though "less interesting"). I get my "feeling that I am useful and appreciated, and have a value to others" solely by contract-work - an agreement of social contact as outlined in the agreement form for the study. I am surrounded by AI (though not an EEG AI, yet, as I am in my thirties, non-smoker, high-normal weight, and 80mg of Telmisartan make my blood pressure normal, too). I am 80% in solitude, and on some occasions - such as an isolated summer 2022 - 20% lonely, still. But I have effective strategies of doing something that I love (or just focusing on what I must do - that also takes my mind of it, with such low-intensity loneliness), in order to again feel "in solitude". That's compared to 100% lonely at the beginning of 2021 - while social isolation is objective and remaining at a constant 100%, if you don't count the "stranger-contact" of my research participation (which is greatly fluctuation and potentially subject to another lockdown due to FLU and RSV soon, and certainly "slowing down before xmas" right now - but I feel like I am "resilient" towards such potential deprivations, and have learned to radically accept it as it comes and goes - it's not the priority of my life, it's not of the major importance that social connection and subsequent "solitary confinement without a crime" and the impact thereof had on me, back in 2020). PS: I am not on any "social media" though, and I would absolutely agree with "social media being very risky", a gamble in terms of mental health (you can "win" there - but the chance of losing is much higher).

[@traktoreaktor4510]

*EKG, not EEG. Classic "Freudian slip of the tongue", maybe? 🙂 I actually have an EEG that I use for my magic power. A Muse S. As a brain computer interface. For SKYRIM. Skyrim magic only works if I fokus. And then I slay dragons with my brain. "Cangar Skyrim VR BCI mod" if you want to play it yourself - it's really immersive, and trains "mindfulness" in a non-boring way - for real! Listening to the birds from the Muse App always made me doze off (requires eyes closed - bad idea, combined with "utterly boring"...). I cancelled my subscription for Muse App, and just use their awesome consumer-grade EEG to play with my BCI & AI now. Alright, that's all. ;-)

[@melindaulin9920]

Wow