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How Loneliness Could Be Changing Your Brain And Body

2020-06-24T06:57:08Z

PhillisHand005: Created page with "id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body"> Brett Pearce/CNET People were already lonel..."

id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body"> Brett Pearce/CNET People were already lonely before the [ coronavirus] pandemic hit. Before COVID-19 stranded folks at home and made getting close to others an unnerving experience, researchers were realizing Americans were lonelier than ever. A 2018 study from health care insurer Cigna found that 54% of 20,000 Americans surveyed reported [ feeling lonely]. In the span of a bit more than a year, the number rose to 61%. Generation Z adults 18-22 years old are supposedly the loneliest generation, outpacing Boomers, Gen X and Millennials, despite being more connected than ever. CNET Science From the lab to your inbox. Get the latest science stories from CNET every week. Loneliness has hit epidemic proportions, said Doug Nemecek, chief medical officer at Cigna. More troubling: A growing body of research suggesting that being lonely for a sustained period of time could be bad for people's physical and mental wellbeing. That same study from Cigna placed associated health risks on par with smoking and obesity. An [ 2018 article in The Lancet] described the situation like this: "Imagine a condition that makes a person irritable, depressed and self-centered, and is associated with a 26% increase in the risk of premature mortality." But these are strange times. As a result of COVID-19, keeping distance from others is the safest way to stay healthy, despite the fact it could compound feelings of isolation. It's a new reason to consider how loneliness can impact everything from your brain, to your heart, to your immune system. Why we get lonely Loneliness might conjure images of being apart from friends and family, but the feeling runs much deeper than not having plans on a Friday night or than going stag to a wedding. Evolutionarily, being part of a group has meant protection, sharing the workload and increased odds of survival. After all, humans take a long time to mature. We need our tribes. "It's very distressing when we are not a part of a group," said Julianne Holt-Lundstad, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University. "We have to deal with our environment entirely on our own, without the help of others, which puts our brain in a state of alert, but that also signals the rest of our body to be in a state of alert." Staying in that state of alert, that high state of stress, means wear and tear on the body. Stress hormones like cortisol and norepinephrine can contribute to [ sleeplessness, weight gain and anxiety] over extended periods of exposure, according to the Mayo Clinic. More on loneliness [/news/vr-vacations-provide-comfort-from-being-stuck-at-home-the-first-time-i-tried-it-i-saw-a-city-in-spain/ VR vacations provide comfort for seniors stuck at home] [/features/how-tech-and-social-media-are-making-us-feel-lonelier-than-ever/ Tech and social media make us feel lonelier than ever] The pandemic, Holt-Lundstad pointed out, is possibly the most stressful experience many people have had in their lifetime. Daily life has been upended, unemployment has skyrocketed and more than 6 million people around the world have been infected. Normally, immense challenges like those would have you seeking the reassurance and support of family and friends. But due to the nature of virus, people are at least more physically alone than ever, making it that much harder to cope. Studying loneliness Loneliness is something almost everyone can relate to, but scientists are still working to understand how and why it impacts health. One of the fundamental challenges of the research: Loneliness is a subjective feeling that can't really be measured. Not even the size of a person's social network can guarantee how lonely they are. Holt-Lundstad said it's a matter of asking people how they feel in surveys, either directly (how often would you say you're lonely?) or indirectly (do you feel you lack companionship?). NASA has been studying the effects of [ isolation and confinement on astronauts] for years, coming to some of the same conclusions as myriad other studies: Isolating conditions can lead to cognitive and behavioral issues. Elsewhere, though, researchers are looking at biological aspects of loneliness and how it physically affects the body. That can mean looking at brains. Researchers at the [ Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center] in Chicago studied 823 older adults during a four-year period. They used questionnaires to assess loneliness, classifications of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, as well as tests of the participants' thinking, learning and memory, and assigned a loneliness score between 1 and 5. They found a person's risk factor for Alzheimer's increased 51% for each point on the scale. Autopsies were performed on those who died during the study. Loneliness wasn't shown to cause the "hallmark brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease, including nerve plaques and tangles, or tissue damaged by lack of blood flow." However, one researcher involved in the study, Robert S. Wilson, said loneliness could make people more vulnerable to the "deleterious effects of age-related neuropathology." "Loneliness [can] be a good predictor of accelerated cognitive decline," said Turhan Canli, professor of integrative neuroscience at Stony Brook University. Scientists are looking at loneliness and gene expression. Getty Images How exactly loneliness links up with health issues isn't entirely understood. One idea, Canli said, is that if someone is lonely and feeling down on themselves, they might be less likely to take care of themselves. They might not eat right. They might drink too much, worry a lot, sleep too little. Habits like those can have longer-term effects. Canli also talked about work he's been involved in with another researcher at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, David Bennett, that explores how different genes are expressed in people who are or are not lonely. Some 30 years ago, Bennett started a longitudinal study whose participants agreed not only to annual physical and psychological checkups, but to donate their brains when they died. Researchers looked at two regions of the brain related to cognition and emotion. They found genes associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease and [ inflammatory diseases] expressed in those who were lonelier. "There's actually a network of connections between these different genes by which they can affect each other," Canli said, "that might be an underlying genetic reason why these diseases might show up as a function of loneliness." That's not to say loneliness causes heart disease. There's more research to do, including the role heritability plays in gene expression. Earlier work by a UCLA researcher named Steve Cole suggested one possibility -- that the release of certain hormones while under the stress of sustained loneliness could be activating certain genes linked to health issues. "The subjective experience has to be translated somehow in the brain into biology, and so that's that's we're looking at now," Canli said. Better understanding these relationships could one day influence therapies designed to treat patients. The future of loneliness Even as states are starting to relax lockdown orders and restrictions on restaurants, [http://cricketnfootballcenter.mystrikingly.com/blog/harsha-bhogle-before-after cricketnfootballcenter.mystrikingly.com] bars and other public places, the role social distancing could play in society is unknown. In April, Harvard researchers said [ intermittent social distancing] could be necessary through 2022. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent 340 days in space, wrote a piece for The New York Times in March, [ offering advice based on his experience]. Kelly recommends keeping a journal, sticking to a schedule and getting a hobby. Nemeck, from Cigna, noted that now more than ever, it's more important to check in on others and be open to having honest conversations about feelings of loneliness, while batting down stigma attached to the feeling. "We need to reach out to some friends and make sure we maintain those connections and have meaningful conversations," he said. "It's important for all of us to be comfortable asking other people how they feel." [#comments Comments] [/topics/culture/ Culture] [/topics/sci-tech/ Notification on Notification off Sci-Tech]

Three Months Into The Pandemic Price Gouging Is Still A Real Problem

2020-06-24T04:31:02Z

PhillisHand005:

id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body"> Hand sanitizer remains one of the most sought-after items of 2020 and one of main targets of price gougers. Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images We're three months into the pandemic, but it's still easy to find examples of price gouging on [/tags/amazon/ Amazon]. Last Friday, within five minutes, CNET found Cottonelle toilet paper listed on Amazon for $57.42 (price for the same item on Target: $21.49), and a two-pack of 28-ounce jars of Rao's marinara sauce for $29.04 (an adjacent listing of 24-ounce jars from Amazon-owned Whole Foods would cost you $10.78). The problem isn't confined to Amazon's massive digital storefront. It's pretty much everywhere. By early June, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro's office received [ 5,000 complaints] about price gouging during the pandemic. That's compared with about 27,000 consumer complaints on all topics that his office typically receives in a whole year. "To get 5,000 in basically what's been two months on one specific topic is extraordinary," Shapiro said in an interview. His office is part of a growing effort by authorities and major retailers to tamp down price gouging, as complaints have spiked in recent months. These organizations can point to thousands of wins to prevent this practice, with attorneys general sending out mountains of successful cease-and-desist orders and Amazon suspending more than 6,000 seller accounts. Read: [/news/covid-19-surcharge-why-youre-seeing-extra-fees-on-your-bill/ COVID-19 surcharge: Why you're seeing extra fees on your bill] Last Friday, a search for "Rao's Homemade Marinara Tomato Sauce" found a seller listing a two-pack for nearly $30 right next to a Whole Foods listing that would cost consumers just a third of that for essentially the same product. Screenshot from Amazon But toilet paper and marinara sauce listings show that while efforts to curb [ price gouging] have had an impact, consumers can still run into problems. Retailers like Amazon and [/tags/ebay/ eBay] will need to stay focused on pricing to keep their customers' trust and ensure they aren't caught flat-footed the next time there's a supply shortage or emergency situation. Consumers, meanwhile, will have to stay vigilant, since price gougers keep changing their tactics to follow surges in demand during the pandemic. "While there's been a lot of progress, it was so egregious early on -- like in the end of February, March, April -- that while it's better now it's still really disappointing," said Ryan Stark, co-founder and chief product officer of Popcart, which provides a price tracking tool for consumers. "I definitely think the platforms, you know, the Amazons, the eBays, the Walmarts of the world can do a lot more here." A $250 hand sanitizer bottle on Craigslist Price gouging isn't a new problem, but it's one that's become more widespread and troublesome during the [ coronavirus pandemic] since some sellers will sharply raise prices on items that are needed for safety, like hand sanitizers, or for the inevitable, like toilet paper. The issue is also especially problematic with tens of millions of people out of work and trying to stretch every dollar on essential goods. CNET Daily News Stay in the know. Get the latest tech stories from CNET News every weekday. In the early days of the pandemic in February and [http://cricketnfootballcenter.mystrikingly.com/blog/harsha-bhogle-before-after cricketnfootballcenter.mystrikingly.com] March, prices for face masks, toilet paper, sanitizer and wipes spiked amid a rush by consumers to stock up ahead of stay-at-home orders. Plenty of sellers took advantage by raising prices, and platforms like Amazon and eBay struggled with a flood of listings of overpriced goods. [ US PIRG], a nonprofit consumer watchdog, came out with a study in early March highlighting the problem. It found prices spiked for most of the 100 items it reviewed on Amazon by more than 50%, with price rises for face masks and hand sanitizers sold directly by Amazon itself and by third-party merchants on its site. In response to the US PIRG report, an Amazon spokeswoman said that when the company sees an error, "we work quickly to fix it." Related stories [/health/face-mask-shopping-online-where-to-buy-and-what-to-look-for/ Face mask shopping online: Where to buy and what to look for] [/personal-finance/your-coronavirus-quarantine-spending-is-heavy-on-pajamas-and-beer/ Your coronavirus quarantine spending is heavy on pajamas and beer] [/how-to/grocery-store-shelves-still-empty-6-smart-ways-to-stock-up-on-food-during-quarantine/ Grocery store shelves still empty? 6 smart ways to stock up on food during quarantine] In late March, mentioning the US PIRG report, a [ group of 33 state attorneys general], co-led by Shapiro, called on Amazon, Facebook, eBay, [/tags/walmart/ Walmart] and Craigslist to do a better job tamping down price gouging. They cited a two-liter bottle of hand sanitizer on Craigslist for $250 and packs of face masks on eBay for $40 to $50. Stark, from Popcart, said price gouging has continued to migrate to new areas to follow consumer demand. It started in paper goods and cleaners, but price gougers have now made their way to work-from-home categories like webcams and to summer recreation equipment like inflatable swimming pools, which are in high demand amid stay-at-home orders. He added that price gougers have also figured out new methods, like hiding extra fees in the shipping cost, which can fool e-commerce companies' automated systems. In another situation, [ The Verge] found sellers listing common items as "collectibles" to avoid price gouging monitors. Early into the pandemic, there were serious problems with hoarding, including a now-famous example of two Tennessee brothers buying up [ 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer] from local stores and trying to flip them for profit on Amazon. Amid a public backlash, they donated their supplies and reached a settlement with the state attorney general to avoid prosecution and a fine.

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2020-06-24T04:31:00Z

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