Are you sick and lonely?

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

I agree, look at the girl from LA Ink, Kat, pretty face, needs to lose baby fat a bit, but without all those tattos she's a doll.

I disagree, without the tats she'd be a forgetable nobody. Now she has a TV show and stalkers.... you don't get stalkers because you can doodle well with a tattoo machine.

 

[jonnythan]

I'm not sure what connection that they are trying to make between loneliness and genetics. Are they saying that loneliness causes some form of genetic alteration that switches off certain functions of the genes?

That is outside the scope of the study.

The study shows that there is a correlation between loneliness and immune system suppression. Whether one causes the other or both are caused by some third factor is something to be further researched.

 

[stratman]

That is outside the scope of the study.

The study shows that there is a correlation between loneliness and immune system suppression. Whether one causes the other or both are caused by some third factor is something to be further researched.

So I guess Bobby McFerrin had the right advice: "Don't worry be happy."

 

[stratman]

I disagree, without the tats she'd be a forgetable nobody. Now she has a TV show and stalkers.... you don't get stalkers because you can doodle well with a tattoo machine.

I don't know if she'd be a forgettable nobody, she's very pretty, comes from money, she could have done a myriad of other things and with her drive she could have been famous, tattoos have become the flavor of the month along with hot rod and chopper building, alas fads will fade, but tattoos.....well, there is a lazer.

 

[Davemcc]

Yep.

It's differential expression of genes. In this way "loneliness" would be no different from exercising, hunger, lack of sleep, sleeping...genes get turned on and off all the time for all sorts of reasons, that isn't in itself all that interesting.

What's actually interesting is that the set of genes that are affected by loneliness are largely tied to immune function.

That is outside the scope of the study.

The study shows that there is a correlation between loneliness and immune system suppression. Whether one causes the other or both are caused by some third factor is something to be further researched.

Now I'm really confused.

 

[zhimbo]

Now I'm really confused.

Well, let's put it this way:

It's DEFINITELY about gene expression...but...

Whether the difference in gene expression is due to loneliness itself (like I implied) or due to some other factor (pre-existing factors of some sort) can't actually be determined from the study. So, it's shown that lonely people show immune system related changes in gene expression, which is likely the reason they show more health problems. What causes the loneliness and/or the immune system differences isn't covered by the study.