UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIALIZATION AND OUR MENTAL HEALTH - PART 2

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Hello Hivers and STEMSocial Community, it's been awhile (a month) I published a STEM article. I have been trying to develop a new skill, Graphic Designing Skill. I have been playing around with GIMP, After Effects and Adobe XD (PS: If you are good in any of these software, kindly let me know. I could really like a help, smiles). I'm glad most of you enjoyed the Part 1, if you are yet to read it, I advice you do, by clicking here.

The Part 1 was more on the positive aspect/benefits of socialization. The Part 2 will focus more on the negative aspect of not socializing enough. Reason for this, is that, we humans tend not to get our act together when we are told of what we are to gain from doing a particular thing but when we are told of what we stand to lose, we do those things, that's just humans' psychology. For instance, you want a kid to pay more attention to his/her studies and then you told the kid that, "You will be the first/brightest student in your class if you studied more" or "You will be a successful man/woman in future if you just paid more attention to your studies now". Some kids will sit up and start studying more, but most won't take the warning/advice seriously. Whereas, when you tell a kid that, "You will be poor, homeless and begging to feed, if you don't study more now" or "You will be a shame to yourself, your family members and friends, if you don't start paying more attention to your studies now".(PS: I'm not that much of a fan of education, I'm more of a fan of skills and ability to contribute). If you notice, both statement to kids are correct/right, if you study you will be successful & be the brightest student, if you don't you will poor & be a shame. But the later will create more fear on the kid and fear makes us humans to take actions. Just imagine running with your friends and running from a lion, which instance do you think you will run faster? Hehehe, it's obvious, right?

I'm not so sure I drove the idea, of what I intended, hence, I will like to create a second scenario. For instance, you are trying to convince someone who only sleeps less than 4 hours daily to try and sleep more. Which statement would you think will make the individual want to sleep more.

  • Statement 1: "Sleep will boost your creativity, immunity and as well as your ability to remember quicker and better, hence, making you super productive".

  • Statement 2: "If you are not having enough sleep, studies have shown that you stand a 48% greater chance of developing or dying from heart disease".

PS: I wrote about sleep some time ago, they will definitely be worth your time. Part 1 and Part 2

I will definitely choose the second statement. Why? The fear of dying will trigger so many buttons in our brain and mind. Humans hate the idea of death, it's our nature. We would try almost everything, if not everything within our power not to die.

In this article, I will be discussing about the effects of social isolation. So find somewhere quiet and get comfortable as you read through this amazing article I made just for you(smiles). PS: It won't be too lengthy.


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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels


Brief Intro From Part

We are all social creatures, it's in our DNA to be social. Why do I say so? Why are we born into a family? To socialize with one another. So why are you now, isolating yourself from the world? We are born into a society, that we integrate with, in other to feel among. We crave to be part of a society, that's why kids are at their happiest when they play together. Imagine throwing a birthday party for a kid and nobody comes, will the kid be happy, hell no. The idea of a birthday party is for socialization, to bring loved ones together and create a blissful experience.
Ask yourself how our primate ancestors survived during their time. They had to socialize in other to create way that could help them in times of adversity. They communicated on how to create weapons, how to attack their preys, how to protect their family, etc. No one person can survive on their own. We need people in our lives to survive.
Click here to read the full article.

I strongly suggest you read the Part 1 if you haven't. Without wasting any more time, let's dive into the Part 2 properly.


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Photo by Lamar Belina from Pexels


How Lack Of Socialization Could Affect Our Mental Health

The impact of lack of socialization/social-isolation is becoming alarming that many researchers are saying it's now a global problem because its 4 times more deadly than obesity. The reason why it is growing rapidly is because majority of the victims don't even know that, they are not having enough social activities. You will notice that the rate of suicide as a result of depression is increasing over the years. Depression is one of the main evidence that someone is lacking enough social activities. Now, you will like to ask yourself, why in the 21st century are people getting more depressed? The reason is quite simple, advancement in technology. Yeah, I know technology has helped bridged the gap in communication greatly and communication is very vital in staying in touch with your loved ones, hence, increase socialization. Ideally, that should be how advancement in technology was suppose to impact our lives. But in the sense, advancement in technology has negatively affected our social life, making us more vulnerable to depression. Before advancement in technology, family had a stronger bond and there was stronger level of communication between people. There was that existence of parents to children connection. Family hunt for food together, eat together, fight together and even die together. There was that community/tribe bond. But now, dad is on his laptop, mum is on her laptop, the daughter is on instagram, son watching netflix or playing games, neighbors keeping their distance. We believe that with internet, system(computer) and netflix, we are good, we are having the time of our lives, but in the real sense, its killing us. That's how majority of us live nowadays, hence, the increase in strokes, CHD, depression and so on.

In a movie called Jexi, you will understand why been isolated isn't healthy to our mental health at all, here is the download link(PS: If you have issues to how to download hit me up in the comment section). Since, I don't want to make this article lengthy, I will explain two ways on how lack of socialization could affect our mental health and physical health.


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Photo by Claudia Wolff on Unsplash


Depression

Take a good look at that picture above again, you see it, that's the feeling of a depressed person. Depression seems like something mild, my friend, depression isn't mild, it is very deadly. It will slowly eat you up from the inside, without you knowing. Let me give you some facts according to Mental Health Foundation;

Depression is the predominant mental health problem worldwide, followed by anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Source

In 2013, depression was the second leading cause of years lived with a disability worldwide, behind lower back pain. In 26 countries, depression was the primary driver of disability. Source

Now let's talk about how lack of socialization could result to depression. Lack of socialization can also mean self-isolation and someone who is self-isolated will suffer loneliness issues. What happens in the brain of lonely/self-isolated individual? The individual's brain secretes more dopamine. What's dopamine? Dopamine is a very essential neurotransmitter that greatly affects our level of motivation, our mood and most essentially it serves as our pleasure hormone. You know that feeling when you eat a delicious meal, listen to that song that makes you so emotional in happy way or the pleasure you get from having a good sex. You get it now right. That's the work of Dopamine in our brain and that is why it is also known as a pleasure hormone, because it is responsible for giving us pleasure. Why should we have an increase in the secretion of dopamine when we are depressed? Secondly, isn't an increase in the secretion of dopamine suppose to make us feel happier? Firstly, we humans are built to be social creatures, so when our brain starts noticing lack of social activities, it begins to secrete the pleasure hormone(dopamine) to make us try to reconnect with people and feel happy. That's why at first self-isolated people enjoy the isolation and then with time, they start getting depressed(my answer to the second question will explain why they begin to get depressed). Secondly, as a result of too much secretion of dopamine, we start to get the reverse of dopamine which is sadness and depression. If you are following my STEM articles, you notice that I always talk about moderation. Exercise makes us stronger and improves our immune system, but when you over exercise, you will become weaker and our immune system will become more vulnerable. Same thing applies to our brain when it secretes too much dopamine.


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Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels


If you are socializing enough, it will be difficult for you to get totally depressed. Almost everyone must have gotten depressed at some point in our life, maybe the death of a loved one, exam failure, break-up and so on. Depression can not survive when there are people around, they will try as much as they can to put a smile to your face. And that's why socializing is very very important in our lives. When we talk, we release ourselves of stress and stress causes depression. So whenever, you find yourself in a depressing situation, try and communicate, and stay at a family member's/friend's place for like 2 or 3 days. They will help cheer you up and get you out of that horrible state(depression). Well according to Nicole Valtorta an epidemiologist from the University of Newcastle;

Lacking encouragement from family or friends, those who are lonely may slide into unhealthy habits. In addition, loneliness has been found to raise levels of stress, impede sleep and, in turn, harm the body. Loneliness can also augment depression or anxiety. Source


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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash


Increased Risk Of Premature Death

Lack of socialization/self-isolation could result to higher chance of an individual dying earlier than expected. As I said earlier in the article, researchers' are of the opinion that self-isolation is 4 times more deadly than obesity. Also according to a research study carried out by BMJ Journals, self-isolated people have a 29% increased risk of getting Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and also have 32% increased risk of getting stroke. CHD and Stroke are known to be the two leading causes of death and disability in advanced countries. According to yet another research study carried out at Harvard, isolated men have a whopping 82% higher risk of dying from heart disease as opposed to sociable men who have a 21% risk. It's pretty obvious that isolation is very deadly and should be regarded as a terminal disease, in order to create more awareness of the danger of self-isolation.

According to Julianne Holt-Lunstad who is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University;

There is robust evidence that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality, and the magnitude of the risk exceeds that of many leading health indicators. Source.

According to the Head of Communication at the University of Arizona, Chris Segrin;

We started realizing about 15 years ago that loneliness is actually a pretty serious risk for health problems. It's as serious of a risk as smoking, obesity or eating a high-fat diet with lack of exercise. Source

Now, let's understand why isolated people have increased risks of dying prematurely from various forms of diseases. Leukocytes!!! Leukocytes are also known as White blood cells. Leukocytes helps to ensure that our immune system is functioning well as to help defend our body from infections. A study carried out by University of California, Los Angeles, has shown that the leukocytes which are found in isolated individuals are showing a decreased expression of genes involved in antiviral responses. What this simply means, is that, isolated individuals tend to have less immunity, hence, they are more vulnerable to deadly diseases. And that's why recent studies are suggesting that social isolation could actually cause tumors which leads to cancer. According to a study from the University of Chicago Medical Center, which suggests that, isolated individuals have increased risks of developing tumors/cancer.


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Photo by Kevia Tan on Unsplash


How Can We Combat Social Isolation?

Its quite simple, just do what those folks are doing in the image above. Go out and connect with people, listen to jokes, crack your jokes, enjoy the atmosphere, feel happy (Do these after COVID-19 situation[smiles], maintain social distancing for now but you can still connect with smartphones, not just doing instagram and facebook, also use your smartphones for voice and video calls. If you are good, in the terms of been sociable, you can also look out for family members or friends who might be falling into social isolation maybe because of breakup, unemployment, etc and help them. Take them out, if they don't feel like it, stay with them at home, watch movie, play games, dance, just try and create some fun in the atmosphere.

The older people are more vulnerable to social isolation. According to a research study which was carried out by Julene Johnson, who is a researcher of aging at the University of California, San Francisco, her studies showed that old people who are more engaging in the community and social groups had a stronger mental health and lived longer. Old people should join social groups like book clubs, chess clubs, choir, etc, so as to stay active at all time. According to another research study carried out by researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia, also showed that, old people who take part in social groups have a lower risk of death. That's why communities and countries that are communal based tend to have a higher life expectancy. I did my little research on countries with high life expectancy and I noticed that the top five countries are countries that have a very strong family tree system. What I mean by family tree system, is that, the family members are very close and like staying together for life. Below are the top 5 countries with high life expectancy rate.


RankCountriesAvg. Life Expectancy Rate
1Japan84.5
2Hong Kong84.1
3Singapore83.8
4Italy83.6
5Spain83.4

Source


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Photo by Vlad Sargu on Unsplash


Conclusion

Well, studies have shown just how important socialization is for both our mental and physical health. The rate of CHD, stroke, suicide,depression,cancer and more, are increasing daily, many of these cases are because of social isolation, so its only right we fight it back and have fun while doing it, because its actually fun socializating (not all the time though, smiles). My best take from researching and writing this article, is joining a social group. Joining a social group, young or old, is very important, as these groups will always look out for each other and create a sense of belonging which is a powerful weapon against social isolation.

Well, amid this current pandemic (Covid-19), now isn't the best time to be super social. Maintain the rules, 6 feet distance and put on your face masks if necessary. You can voice & video call family members and friends to check up on them and ensure they call you too, to check up on you, create a two way connection. We have smart gadgets and that's why you can read this article, you can use it to socialize, not by looking at people images/videos on Facebook or Instagram all day, instead use it to chat and make calls, join groups, join online classes, etc. You have no excuse not to socialize now, so SOCIALIZE.


Kindly share this article, so that everyone on Hive can read it and also share it to their friends and family members, you just might be saving someone from death, depression, CHD, stroke, etc.


Thanks for reading

Till Next Time, Stay Safe.


References

Ref 1 | Ref 2 | Ref 3 | Ref 4 | Ref 5 | Ref 6 | Ref 7 | Ref 8 | Ref 9 | Ref 10 | Ref 11 | Ref 12 | Ref 13 | Ref 14 | Ref 15


All images used in this article are free source licensed under the Creative Commons and are liable for commercial use.



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I thought you said its not going to be a lengthy post😂😂, well , i will not make my comment lenghty too, anyway let me see if i can keep to my word.

Firstly, we humans are built to be social creatures, so when our brain starts noticing lack of social activities, it begins to secrete the pleasure hormone(dopamine) to make us try to reconnect with people and feel happy.

Like it has been said that human are social creatures,when we refused to socialize,our brain takes over to enforce us to do so by secreting dopamine which is not good enough.

The word of God said somewhere that "God set the solitary in family,but the rebellious will dwell in a dry land". Man was never created to live alone. Self isolation spell doom and should be discouraged. Family members should help anyone lonely. Like you said, old people are the most vulnerable to social isolation due to the fact that children have grown up and left home. Your post has provided solution which is being involved in social group.
Also,parents these days tends to stay glue to there laptop trying to finish one work or the other, well they need it to keep on putting food on the table for kids. During this time of lockdown my kids eat more than usual. 😂😂😂.
This is a good write up,thanks for sharing @menoski

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(Edited)

Hehehe, I wanted to make it short, but when I start writing I can't stop and I didn't put out all my thoughts, I had to shorten it, weird right? But I will try and stick to 1500 - 1700 words, because I think seeing an article of over 2700 words might be discouraging to read.

Your comment isn't short, hehehe.

Woah, you have reinforced my points with biblical proofs, that's cool (smiles).

Yeah, I understand, that parents will have to work to put food on the table, but there could be a sort of rule for a family time everyday, even if its 30 mins without gadgets, let everyone come together and talk or remain silent (smiles).

I'm glad your kids are getting enough food(thumbs up).

Thanks for reading through and making such a good comment @steepup

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Thanks for sharing with us too.

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Unfortunately, I have noticed the same thing. Articles longer than 1000 words are not so deeply read. I am personally trying to make every post I do (i.e. not much due to time constraints) fitting in 1200 words at most.

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Very nice article, in the line of the last STEM one you wrote (I hope not to have missed anything). It actually reinforces those conclusions even more, if I am not wrong (I hope my memory is good enough).

I have a small comment. I am actually a bit surprised to see Japan that high in the life-expectation list, with its suicide rate. I will further dig into this (but not now, it is almost 1:00AM here! ;) ).

Cheers!

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Thanks for coming around @lemouth.

You ain't wrong, this is a psychological topic, part one was like the good cop and part 2 is like the bad cop(smiles) and as we know, criminals are always afraid of bad cops. Have you watched the latest Bad Boys movie?

I'm wasn't surprised seeing Japan on the top, I'm surprised with the suicide rate, you are saying. I didn't know that they have high suicide rates, I will have to look that up. I'm more surprised not seeing China among the top 10 list, pretty strange.

It's almost 2AM here, got to prepare for bed now.

Thanks again for reading through and making such a nice comment.

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Hehe!

Have you watched the latest Bad Boys movie?

I didn't even know there was such a series of movies.... so the answer is no :)

I'm more surprised not seeing China among the top 10 list, pretty strange.
Actually, with all the pollution they have I am not so surprised. China is a big country and you have large differences between the country side and the big cities for instance. This may explain this.

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