Social networking = disease?

Social networking = disease?

Isolation could lead to increased health risks

Alicia Wong

alicia@mediacorp.com.sg

THE next time your doctor asks about your social life, he’s not being nosy. He could have read a report :that says excessive social networking online and reduced face-to-face contact could lead to significant health risks, such as dementia or stroke.

:Published recently in :Biologist:, a journal of the United Kingdom’s Institute of Biology (IOB), it drew a link between a higher risk for such diseases and people who have less physical interaction with others because of the amount of time spent online.

“Britain’s disinclination for togetherness is only equalled by her veneration of communicating through new technologies. This is now the most significant contributing factor to society’s growing physical estrangement,” the author, Dr Aric Sigman wrote.

Dr Sigman, an American psychologist and IOB member, said this is a :“growing public health issue for all industrialised countries. ”

Last year, a survey by Singapore’s Academy of Medicine revealed that 20 per cent of the 2,735 students polled were online constantly for at least five hours a day. It termed this “compulsive”.

A recent survey by research firm Hitwise showed a 602 per cent jump — within a year from January 2008 — in Singaporeans visiting and using Twitter, a new social media application.

Dr Sigman compiled worldwide research that showed social isolation could be linked to an impairment of genes fighting against illness or stress, and increased activity in genes promoting inflammation in disease and stress.

Women with suspected coronary artery disease had significantly narrower arteries if their social circle was small, while cancer patients with more social support had more cells that help control tumour development.

Loneliness is linked to diabetes and cardiovascular disease as hugging and feelings of trust release a hormone that prevent detrimental heart functions.

Local researchers said that studies on social isolation are well-recognised, but were less convinced that a virtual social life could lead to increased medical complications.

Professor George Bishop, dean of the department of psychology at the National University of Singapore, said the connection “is not entirely clear.”

Professor :Ranga Krishnan, dean of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore, said “What helps is that doctors, usually unaware of such studies, are now better able to help socially isolated patients, he added.

Article is from the TODAY Newsapaper

We must hug one another more often to prevent detrimental heart functions.
Size of women arteries is proportional to their social circle