The loneliness that motivates behavior and habits harmful to health

Surrounded by other people live, interact and lead a normal appearance, but internally he is alone. Your brain behaves differently and look for ways to feel good are usually not healthy choices, like eating food with lots of fat. Thus, loneliness may also NIRS defined as a feeling, a state of mind that is involved in the nervous system.

A study by the Psychiatric Department of Psychology, University of Chicago analyzed the consequences of social isolation and how lonely people behave in everyday life. The results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, as its Spanish acronym), which was held in last February in Chicago.

John Cacioppo, a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Psychology, University of Chicago and director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience in the same institution, is a prominent expert in dealing with loneliness and was one of the leaders of labor.

Search commented that this may be one of the causes of depression or exacerbate this condition, although not by itself trigger. The team that brought the specialist sought to investigate how they can modify their behavior people who feel alone.

The study entitled "The brain and emotion social" was the first to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-to analyze the functioning of that body, to investigate the connections between their activity and loneliness, also known as the perception of isolation social.

In this research, Cacioppo and his team found that people who felt alone attracted more times during the night, but the next day is not remembered. These interruptions of sleep were short and many were due to small noises produced by researchers.

Cacioppo believed that single people are constantly "on alert while they sleep" and therefore can not rest well. Any small noise disturbances and damages your health and relaxation. "When someone is lonely, the environment is seen as a threat," the university teacher.

In addition, adults taking surveyed, the vast majority of medications for sleep, then admitted they did not rest well at night. The study also concluded that people who say they are alone in suffering hunger pains and more recurrent.

The researcher stressed that the danger is that these symptoms are maintained over time and, moreover, noted that loneliness diminishes the ability of control, which makes the patient often behave impulsively.

Also, lonely people do less exercise and eat foods high in calories, rewarding those who can. In the case of adults also have high blood pressure in most cases, a characteristic that is variable in young .

Cacioppo said that once people become aware that they feel alone, can make things out of that state. First, it is advisable to avoid isolation, a behavior that may arise from the fear of opening up to society.

He also commented that the lonely people down the barrier of the aspirations and seeking relationships assess risks. Therefore, the second step in your care is to develop a safe plan of action, finding a club or a heart to begin to interact with others in a sheltered environment. Then, these people must be controlled and careful not to overwhelm the people who around because the lonely, desperate to engage in contact, may tend to be persistent and generate rejection in others.

The links are defined as successful "relationship quality", in which two people who feel they interact better off. "Achieving quality relationships is the goal of this strategy to escape from loneliness," explained the researcher from the University of Chicago. The problem arises in older adults, who tend to see these new relationships as little motivating or encouraging to leave the state of retreat.

• It affects the brain. The team of researchers at the University of Chicago found that, faced with unpleasant situations, the area designated as a union temporoparietal brain (responsible for detonating the moral judgments and associated with the ability to put oneself in the place of another) is activated to a lesser extent in solitary individuals.

Furthermore, compared with a pleasant and enjoyable event, the region of the ventral striatum, one of the key areas where the brain processes the rewarding-is significantly more activated in non-lonely people. This part of the brain is also crucial in learning and active with primary rewards such as food and high schools, as money. The social and amorous feelings also activate this region.

According to the U.S. expert, the various responses of the brain are related to the conduct of individuals who develop later. Feeling alone can motivate action in search of comfort. Not finding a way to avoid the feeling of unease at the social level, individuals can stop searching loners be included in a group and comply with food, sweets and junk food that is gratifying. This conduct active region in the reward their brains.

Cacioppo and his team showed that loneliness may encourage behaviors that deteriorating health as a diet with too much sugar, junk food and little exercise. "It can be as harmful as smoking," said the specialist and he felt that his country one in five people suffer from loneliness.

• Degree of loneliness. The group of experts from the University of Chicago conducted a study entitled "In the shoes of others: differences in perception of social isolation," published in February this year by the scientific journal ca "Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ", specializing in the field of cognitive neuroscience.

While the work showed that loneliness can infl UIRs on the responses of the brain, the research also revealed that the activity in the area of the brain associated with reward can cause feelings of loneliness.

The study even leaves open the possibility that loneliness may be due to activities related to the reward-located in the ventral striatum, are reduced compared to stimuli such as social contact with others.

• The future of psychology. Cacioppo said during the presentation of his latest study to understand the psychology of human beings must analyze the brain mechanisms and emphasized the importance of optimizing the field of study.

"The psychology of XXI century can and should become not only the science of the mind but also in the science of the brain," he said.

Knowing what brain mechanisms underlie the psychological processes is an area that expands as the American expert Charles Darwin's work. The late scientist considered the brain as a product of evolution and the science of psychology as a concern about this body.

"Through the study of different brain mechanisms researchers hope to generate a new approach for examining the activities that surround mental awareness, perception and thought," said Cacioppo.