As if it weren’t bad enough, according to CMU grad student Sarah Pressman,
-It turns out Loneliness could affect your immune system negatively.
It is disturbing that this study neglected to count the number of inverted keg-stands or fraternity indoctrination rituals in the lives of the subjects.
If those don’t kill your immune system in a week, nothing will.
Much the same way scientists do experiments on mice for eventual application to humans.
This study was done on college freshmen for eventual application to humans.
An interesting quirk came up because Pressman measured both:
a) Degree of Loneliness Felt
and b) Size of Social Network,
In-addition to patient-response to Flu Vaccine.
-That part of the results showed it that size of network had zero correlation to amount of loneliness.
So it was very possible to be in the middle of a crowd but still experience the same feelings, regardless.
So, get out there and build quality social networks!!!
Photo Credits: “Shadow”, by Tijmen Van Dobbenburgh
Links:
• Source: APA-First-Year College Students Who Feel Lonely Have a Weaker Immune Response to the Flu Shot
• via: WebMD-Loneliness
• Source Study: PSY-CMU-Loneliness, Social Network Size, and Immune Response to Influenza Vaccination in College Freshmen[PDF]
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