{"id":113471,"date":"2016-12-11T14:30:02","date_gmt":"2016-12-11T12:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=113471"},"modified":"2016-12-12T10:55:11","modified_gmt":"2016-12-12T08:55:11","slug":"the-dangers-of-spending-too-much-time-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/entertainment\/113471-the-dangers-of-spending-too-much-time-alone","title":{"rendered":"The dangers of spending too much time alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Humans are hardwired to interact with others, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/labs.psych.ucsb.edu\/kim\/heejung\/townsendkimmesquita-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">especially during times of stress<\/a><\/strong>. On the other hand, when we go through a trying ordeal alone, a lack of emotional support and comradeship can increase our anxiety and hinder our ability to cope.<\/p>\n<p>This message is forcefully driven home in the newly released thriller \u201c<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt2582500\/\" target=\"_blank\">Shut In<\/a><\/strong>.\u201d Naomi Watts plays a widowed child psychologist who lives in isolation in rural New England with her son, who is comatose and bedridden as the result of an automobile accident.<\/p>\n<p>Snowed in and withdrawn from the outside world, Watts\u2019 character descends into a desperate existence. It soon becomes difficult for her to distinguish the phantasms of her imagination from the reality of the creepy goings-on in her apparently haunted house.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KqRdVOQ98k8?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The trailer for \u2018Shut In.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShut In,\u201d of course, isn\u2019t the first movie to use isolation as a vehicle for madness. The characters played by Jack Nicholson in \u201c<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0081505\/?ref_=nv_sr_1\" target=\"_blank\">The Shining<\/a><\/strong>\u201d and Tom Hanks in \u201c<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0162222\/?ref_=nv_sr_3\" target=\"_blank\">Castaway<\/a><\/strong>\u201d found themselves in similar predicaments.<\/p>\n<p>Although movies like \u201cShut In\u201d are fictional, the toll on the protagonist\u2019s psyche from being so alone for so long is based on the science of social isolation.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">The importance of human connection<\/h3>\n<p>Yes, other people can be irritating. But they are also our greatest source of comfort, and an impressive amount of psychological research underscores the importance of human contact.<\/p>\n<p>Rejection by others <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/cdp.sagepub.com\/content\/20\/2\/71.abstract\" target=\"_blank\">psychologically wounds us more deeply<\/a><\/strong> than almost anything else, and research by neuroscientists reveals that <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/302\/5643\/290\" target=\"_blank\">ostracism can lead to feeling actual physical pain<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Other studies confirm that <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/forbes\/2009\/0824\/opinions-neuroscience-loneliness-ideas-opinions.html\" target=\"_blank\">loneliness isn\u2019t good for anyone\u2019s health<\/a><\/strong>. It increases levels of stress hormones in the body while leading to poor sleep, a compromised immune system and, in the elderly, cognitive decline.<\/p>\n<p><strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/frontline\/article\/what-does-solitary-confinement-do-to-your-mind\/\" target=\"_blank\">The damage that solitary confinement inflicts<\/a><\/strong> on the mental health of prison inmates has also been well-documented.<\/p>\n<p>Alone in an unchanging environment, the sensory information available to us and the ways in which we process it <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/eab.sagepub.com\/content\/19\/1\/33.abstract\" target=\"_blank\">can change in unpredictable ways<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>For example, we normally spend most of our time attending to and processing external stimuli from the physical world around us.<\/p>\n<p>However, monotonous stimulation from our surroundings may cause us to turn our attention inward \u2013 within ourselves \u2013 which most of us have much less experience handling.<\/p>\n<p>This can lead to a profoundly altered state of consciousness. We may begin to question what\u2019s going on in our surroundings; Is that creaking sound upstairs just an old house pushing back against the wind, or is it something more sinister?<\/p>\n<p>This ambivalence leaves us frozen in place, wallowing in unease, especially if we\u2019re alone.<\/p>\n<p>When we\u2019re uncertain, the first thing we usually do is to look to the reactions of others to figure out what is going on.<\/p>\n<p>Without others with whom to share information and reactions, ambiguity becomes very hard to resolve. When this happens, our mind may quickly race to the darkest possible conclusions.<\/p>\n<p>Unpleasant things can also happen when small groups of people experience isolation together.<\/p>\n<p>Much of what we know about this phenomenon has been gathered from <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.springer.com\/us\/book\/9780387973104\" target=\"_blank\">observing the experiences of volunteers at research stations in Antarctica<\/a><\/strong>, especially during the \u201cwintering-over\u201d period.<\/p>\n<p>The extreme temperatures, long periods of darkness, alien landscapes and severely reduced sensory input created a perfect natural laboratory for studying the effects of isolation and confinement.<\/p>\n<p>The volunteers experienced changes in appetite and sleep patterns. Some stopped being able to accurately track the passage of time and lost the ability to concentrate.<\/p>\n<p>The boredom from being around the same people, with limited sources of entertainment, ended up causing a lot of stress. Everyone else\u2019s mannerisms became a grating, annoying and inescapable source of torment.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Seeing ghosts<\/h3>\n<p>But perhaps the strangest thing that can happen to someone in isolation is the experience of the \u201csensed presence,\u201d or the feeling that another person or even a supernatural being is with us.<\/p>\n<p>Sensed presences <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/blog\/out-the-ooze\/201507\/why-some-people-see-ghosts-and-other-presences\" target=\"_blank\">usually appear in environments with static physical and social stimulation<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 in other words, when you\u2019re by yourself in a quiet, remote place, just like Naomi Watts\u2019 character in \u201cShut In.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Low temperature and high levels of stress are also common ingredients.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-right \"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Some of the most compelling descriptions of sensed presences come from lone sailors, mountain climbers and arctic explorers who have experienced hallucinations and out-of-body experiences.<\/p>\n<p>In one amazing <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/6317\" target=\"_blank\">1895 incident<\/a><\/strong>, Joshua Slocum, the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a sailboat singlehandedly, said he saw and spoke with the pilot of Christopher Columbus\u2019 ship \u201cThe Pinta.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Slocum claimed that the pilot steered his boat through heavy weather as he lay ill with food poisoning.<\/p>\n<p>The vividness of a presence can range from a vague feeling of being watched to seeing a seemingly real person. It could be a god, a spirit, an ancestor or a personal acquaintance.<\/p>\n<p>A famous example occurred in 1933, when British explorer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.librarycat.org\/lib\/suniru\/item\/133043879\" target=\"_blank\">Frank Smythe attempted to climb Mt. Everest alone<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>He became so convinced that someone else was accompanying him on his climb that he even offered a piece of cake to his invisible climbing partner.<\/p>\n<p>Possible explanations for a sensed presence include the the movement of boats (if sailing solo) and atmospheric or geomagnetic activity.<\/p>\n<p>Stress, lack of oxygen, monotonous stimulation or a buildup of hormones can trigger changes in brain chemistry that induce altered states of consciousness.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s actually <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/scienceintheclouds.blogspot.com\/2015\/01\/why-do-some-people-see-ghosts.html\" target=\"_blank\">exciting new evidence<\/a><\/strong> from a research group led by neuroscientist <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cell.com\/current-biology\/abstract\/S0960-9822%2814%2901212-3\" target=\"_blank\">Olaf Blanke<\/a><\/strong> demonstrating that stimulating specific brain regions can trick people into feeling the \u201cpresence\u201d of a ghostly apparition.<\/p>\n<p>Although sensed presences are most frequently reported by people in weird or dangerous places, it\u2019s not unreasonable to assume that such experiences can happen in more mundane surroundings.<\/p>\n<p>For example, people who have lost a loved one may shut themselves off from the outside world and rarely leave their homes.<\/p>\n<p>The loneliness and isolation, coupled with high levels of stress and unchanging sensory stimulation, might very well produce the same biological conditions that could trigger a \u201cvisit\u201d from the recently departed.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1799198\/\" target=\"_blank\">Studies indicate<\/a><\/strong> that almost half of widowed elderly Americans will report having hallucinations of their dead spouse.<\/p>\n<p>These experiences seem to be <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/07481187.2010.511424\" target=\"_blank\">a healthy coping mechanism and a normal part of grieving<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>What might all of this say about the way we\u2019re hardwired?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s clear that meaningful connection to other people is as essential to health as the air we breathe.<\/p>\n<p>Given that prolonged periods of social isolation can crack even the hardiest of individuals, perhaps in the absence of actual human contact our brains may manufacture social experiences \u2013 a last-ditch attempt to preserve our sanity.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>This article was originally published on <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\">The Conversation<\/a><\/strong>. Read the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/the-perils-of-a-life-in-isolation-68278\" target=\"_blank\">original article<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Now read:\u00a0<a title=\"Permalink to The highest-paid YouTube stars of 2016\" href=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/entertainment\/113347-the-highest-paid-youtube-stars-of-2016.html\" rel=\"bookmark\">The highest-paid YouTube stars of 2016<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s dangerous to go alone &#8211; take this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":113473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[23707,1807,23709],"class_list":["post-113471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-alone","tag-online","tag-solitude"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113513,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113471\/revisions\/113513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}