LONELINESS LINKED TO HIGH BP IN ELDER PEOPLE

LONELINESS MIGHT HAVE NEGATIVE EFFECT
ON BLOOD PRESSURE IN OLDER ADULTS, STUDY

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new study at the University of Chicago shows, for the first time, a direct relation between loneliness and larger increases in blood pressure. The relation is independent of age and other factors that can cause blood pressure to increase, including body-mass index, smoking, alcohol use and demographic variations like race and income. The researchers also looked at the possibility that depression and stress might account for the increase but found that those factors did not fully explain the increase in blood pressure among lonely people 50 years and older. Researcher Louise Hawkley wrote in an article, “Loneliness Predicts Increased Blood Pressure”, that loneliness worked as if it is a distinctive health-risk factor in its own right. The article came out in the current issue of the journal, “Psychology and Aging”. During the five-year study, Hawkley found a lucid relation between feelings of loneliness and increasing blood pressure. The team based its research on a study of 229 people aged 50 to 68. The randomly chosen group included whites, African Americans and Latinos who were part of a long-term study on aging.

Researcher Louise Hawkley said, “Loneliness is characterized by a motivational impulse to connect with others but also a fear of negative evaluation, rejection and disappointment. We hypothesize that threats to one's sense of safety and security with others are toxic components of loneliness, and that hypervigilance for social threat may contribute to alterations in physiological functioning, including elevated blood pressure”.



Generally, people in this material world consider loneliness as an overwhelming experience and a source of many illnesses, on the other hand, people who perform service in different religions, value loneliness and living modestly very highly, as one of the paths to attain wisdom and spiritual realization.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

May I continuously reside in a small, lonely cottage at the base of a desire-tree in the most holy abode of Sri Navadvipa-dhama, which is sanctified by the lotus feet of Sri Saci-Nanadana. Such a bhajan-kutir is perfectly suitble for constant remembrance of, and service to the divine daily sports that are always present in Sri Vraja-dhama. Indeed, in contrast to this, I will never live in any other place, even if it is bankered for with great enthusiasm by the most wise sages and demigods of all sorts ... all such places cannot attract me as much as my modest bhajan-kutir in Sri Navadvipa-dhama does.

Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Thākura :
Śri Śri Sva-Niyama-Dvadasakam - 4th Verse.
“Whre to Live, and Where Not to Live”.
Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library - www.bvml.org/SBTP/.