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Forced social isolation causes neural craving similar to hunger

blogs.scientificamerican.com

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Re: Forced social isolation causes neural craving similar to hunger

#71

Post by [deleted] »

kharak wrote: post #64
briefcomment wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you really call living with your family isolation? There are people out there who live with no one, aren't near family, and can't see friends because of the lockdowns.

This fits me, and I have 0 problems with it. Do I want to see my friends again? Yes. But as I don´t live in my home country anymore, I´m accustomed to only seeing friends and families a couple of times a year. Takes a bit of effort and empathy to remember that I'm an outlier and people truly did suffer during lockdown. I really wonder, how many people are there like me? What's the distribution? You naturally hear mos…

[deleted]

Re: Forced social isolation causes neural craving similar to hunger

#72

Post by jointpdf »

obvthrowaway2 wrote: post #25
stronglikedan wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Texture is (just/almost) as important as taste!

Once you get used to protein shakes, you can stomach almost any texture.

I blend frozen banana, peanut butter, milk, Greek yogurt, and protein powder together and it’s as good as any milkshake (once you get the proportions right). The frozen banana seems to be the key for giving smoothies a creamy texture.

Everyone: if you drink protein powder mixed with water, you are committing a food crime.

Re: Forced social isolation causes neural craving similar to hunger

#73

Post by null0pointer »

esotericn wrote: post #70

Er, yeah, I've been saying this for months. We are social animals. Literally just existing is stressful at the moment for most of us, because there's a constant urge that is not being satisfied. Not only for socialisation but simply the low-level stress of constantly having to 'check yourself' when you realise literally everything you'd normally be doing is either disabled or handicapped in some way. To me, lockdowns…

We should definitely be beginning to examine the mental health toll the lockdowns are having on people. Changing our behaviour for the sole purpose of extending our life expectancies as long as possible is not living at all.

Re: Forced social isolation causes neural craving similar to hunger

#74

Post by adelHBN »

According to a May 25, 2020, WSJ article (https://www.wsj.com/articles/together-review-all-the-lonely-... of Americans felt lonely during the Covid-19 crisis. While this percentage is higher than normal, the issue is not new. 2-3 years ago President Trump brought on a "loneliness" advisor (not for himself, for Americans), and since at least 2018 the UK has a Minister of Loneliness. This is becoming a global issue, including in China, where children are not spending time with their elderly parents the way their previous generations did.

Re: Forced social isolation causes neural craving similar to hunger

#75

Post by austincheney »

Trasmatta wrote: post #32
briefcomment wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you really call living with your family isolation? There are people out there who live with no one, aren't near family, and can't see friends because of the lockdowns.

Yep, this me. I haven't been able to see friends or family since March 15th. So I haven't even touched another human in that long. It's been really bad for my mental health. I have a hard time empathising with people who say they've been super lonely but still live with family.

Long periods of isolation like this are really hard the first time you go through it. Having gone through this many times I can honestly say you learn to adjust like it were a change in seasons.

The hardest part of isolation, though, is the complete inability for somebody who has never experienced it to relate or appreciate the changes it imposes upon people.

Re: Forced social isolation causes neural craving similar to hunger

#76

Post by daveFNbuck »

ericol wrote: post #59
pgt wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being around your partner and daughter is social.

Well, yes. But it's not the same, and I'm in this boat as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23460927

The article is about severe social isolation, meaning you don't interact with another person in any way.

> the researchers had 40 socially-connected healthy human adults spend 10 hours (9am to 7pm) alone, with no social interaction and no other social stimulation (e.g., twitter, email, reading fiction).

I'm not even sure what I could do during the day to avoid social interactions to this extent.

Re: Forced social isolation causes neural craving similar to hunger

#77

Post by richardbrevig »

Nav_Panel wrote: post #3

This was Maslow's point from back in the 40s, that there's no real distinction between physiological and social hunger, besides the fact of an importance hierarchy (one needs to be decently fed in order to start caring a lot about sociality, although even a person in starvation may care somewhat). Glad to see it's being neurologically researched as well.

Yes, all needs in the hierarchy are basic and necessary!

Re: Forced social isolation causes neural craving similar to hunger

#79

Post by cletus »

I am an introvert. Many people (including many introverts) thinks this means you don't like people or social gatherings. That's not the case. Or at least it's not necessarily true.

Here's the best way I can describe it: being an introvert means that social interactions cost you energy. Being an extrovert (since I'm not one) seems to mean that social interactions gain you energy.

I see this in a relative of mine who is clearly an extrovert. Social interactions are her drug. She craves them and gets almost like a high from them and honestly gets really hyper as a result.

Compare this to me. At work I've had these extended work gatherings for several days where it's a lot of team-building, brainstorming and so on. By the end of the day I'm physically exhausted from all these interactions. Some people are not. Some will go to dinner in the evenings then out to a bar to drink and then back to someone's Airbnb for another gathering after that. That's all fine for them but it's just way too much for me.

So it's not like I don't like interacting with these people. It's merely a question of how much mental energy I'm capable of expending before I need to recharge.

So you see these differences really exposed by the forced isolation. I miss some of the interaction (and, to be fair, the food) of being in the office but otherwise I'm fine. You can clearly see that other people are not. While I have a natural excuse to avoid many draining activities, others are clearly being denied their recharging activities.

So yeah, I can totally buy neural cravings here. For some.

Re: Forced social isolation causes neural craving similar to hunger

#80

Post by daveFNbuck »

esotericn wrote: post #70

Er, yeah, I've been saying this for months. We are social animals. Literally just existing is stressful at the moment for most of us, because there's a constant urge that is not being satisfied. Not only for socialisation but simply the low-level stress of constantly having to 'check yourself' when you realise literally everything you'd normally be doing is either disabled or handicapped in some way. To me, lockdowns…

There are also mental health consequences to large-scale death and hospitals being over capacity. Would you choose a year of watching your friends and family randomly die over a year of staying home most of the time?
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