Tackling the loneliness epidemic

• According to the most recent statistics, loneliness is at “epidemic” levels in the U.S., with 46% of adults saying they sometimes or always feel lonely
• Through interviews with leading experts, investigative journalist Johann Hari has tried to sort out why so many of us struggle with loneliness, depression and anxiety, and what we can do to turn the tide
• Through his travels and interviews, Hari identified nine scientifically verified causes of depression — only two of which are biological. The remaining seven are all related to how we live
• Historically, mankind survived because we banded together and worked as a group. Our very survival often depended on being part of a tribe. When feeling disconnected from community, anxiety and depression arise
• Internet and social media arrived when our sense of community was already waning, and social media gave the appearance of giving back to us something of what we’d lost — friends and status being two examples. But it’s not a proper replacement, as humans were not designed to relate to each other without face-to-face interactions

Read the full article here:  https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/08/03/the-loneliness-epidemic.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20190803Z1&et_cid=DM304417&et_rid=677994123

Loneliness & Alzheimer's Disease

So proud of my son the first author in this latest research paper published 12-18-18.

Loneliness has been associated with higher brain amyloid-β deposition, a biologic marker of Alzheimer’s disease, in cognitively normal older adults, suggesting a link with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease pathophysiology.  Read the full article here: Regional tau pathology and loneliness in cognitively normal older adults