Deep in human DNA is a million-year-old sle that leads us to be social, humans need other people, physically and psychologically, to survive, that doesn’t mean we have to seek company at all costs. However, others, in fact, are very important in our lives, so science has shown that spending a lot of time only greatly affects our behavior.
Several researches have concluded that spending a lot of time alone can even transform our brains. It is part of human nature to share with others. Despite this, we have come at a time when it is not so easy for many people, curiously crowds and their effects are a decisive factor in becoming alone.
- Loneliness is a growing epidemic in the world.
- The number of single-person households is slowly increasing.
- In big cities neighborhood relations have become tense and exclusive.
- With companies selling businesses for hours.
- We all know that spending a lot of time alone isn’t good.
- However.
- We don’t always find a way to break this bubble.
“He who seeks is easily lost, is any isolation guilty?. – Friedrich Nietzsche-
Research from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has shown that spending too much time only has significant effects on behavior. In an experiment with rats, he showed that loneliness leads to the accumulation of a chemical in the brain, which has gradually made them more aggressive and fearful.
The work was published in cell magazine and was considered a model applicable to humans. To conduct the study, the researchers individually isolated a group of mice, preventing them from having contact with other members of their species for a few weeks. Before long, the guinea pigs studied were more irascible than usual, and were more afraid of other rats and hypersensitive to any threat.
When a potential threat arose, the isolated mice were very calm, they remained so, even long after the disappearance of the threatening stimulus, the rats that continued to live in community returned to normal more quickly, the first symptoms of all these changes appeared at two weeks. after isolation.
Other previous research has shown that the fruit fly also exhibits more aggressive behavior when isolated, at which time researchers were able to establish that there was a chemical involved in all of this: tachykinin, which increased as the isolation period progressed.
Experts at the California Institute of Technology wanted to see if this substance also increased in the study mice. They could see that the same thing had happened with the flies. However, in rats, tachykinin led to the production of a neuropeptide called neurokinin. It occurred in the hypothalamus and amygdala.
For example, researchers showed that prolonged isolation leads to increased neurokinin production, which in turn improves aggressive and nervous behavior; however, they also found that the administration of a drug was able to reduce these levels, albeit in an unstable way.
There are many reasons why we are isolated. Sometimes we don’t develop enough social skills; others, we face excessively airtight environments; sometimes we lock ourselves in so many activities and interests that we gradually become isolated islands; in the same way, we may suspect others or others. afraid of not projecting an attractive image.
Whatever the cause, the truth is that spending a lot of time alone does not serve us, that does not make us more autonomous or independent, sometimes the opposite happens: we become increasingly vulnerable, inertia easily invades us easily leads us to isolate ourselves more and more. In time, we can get sick.
It is always possible to open up to others, as always, getting out of the bubble is not easy at first, but it is worth it, because it is a step that leads to better mental health, besides, building relationships with others is an achievement of almost irreplaceable value, thus becoming a necessity and also an invaluable source of growth.