What to Do When We're Lonely

In a recent post, Does Loneliness Make You Sick, I reviewed a study that came out linking physiological reasons why loneliness puts us at risk for getting sick. One of the readers aptly commented wanting more resources for loneliness, saying that now that we know that loneliness can have a negative effect on us physiologically, what can we do about it?

If you’ve been following my writings, you know I have an inclination toward mindfulness as a way of approaching our lives. So I’d be curious about whether loneliness is actually the culprit in making us sick or is it the way we relate to loneliness? Meaning loneliness is an uncomfortable feeling that makes us want to retreat from the world or perhaps avoid in other ways such as addictive behaviors such as drugs, alcohol, sex, or work.

In mindfulness, we speak about learning how to nonjudgmentally approach the actual feeling that’s there as a first step. This means putting on the hat of beginner’s mind and exploring the actual physical sensation that is associated with loneliness. As best you can, relate to the feeling with compassion, if this is difficult, imagine someone who you think of as a compassionate person, dead or alive, and consider how they might relate to this feeling.

Your mind may pop up with the thought, “that’s the most awful idea I’ve ever heard, I’m already so alone, you want me to spend more time alone with myself?” Remember, this is just a first step, what we’re wanting is to train the mind that it can actually be with what’s here and doesn’t have to be so reactive to hating oneself or turning to destructive behaviors.

Although many of us can feel alone even in a crowd, it’s still a good idea to try and come up with some ways to be around people.
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Smoking Scenes in Movies Light Up Smokers' Brains

Seeing a character in a movie light up a cigarette triggers smokers' brains to plan the same motions, new research shows.

In the study, functional MRI was used to monitor brain activity in 17 smokers and 17 nonsmokers as they watched movie scenes that featured smoking. When they saw those scenes, the smokers' brains showed increased activity in areas involved in movement of the hand they use to smoke.

The researchers, led by senior investigator Todd Heatherton of Dartmouth College, published their findings in the Jan. 19 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

"Our findings support prior studies that show smokers who exit a movie that had images of smoking are more likely to crave a cigarette, compared with ones who watched a movie without them," Heatherton said in a news release from the Society for Neuroscience.
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"More work is needed to show whether brain activity in response to movie smoking predicts relapse for a smoker trying to quit," he added.

The researchers noted that smokers are often advised to avoid other smokers and to remove smoking paraphernalia from their homes, but they may not think to avoid seeing a movie that includes scenes of smoking.

It's long been known that visual cues can cause drug cravings, said Scott Huettel, a Duke University expert in the neuroscience of decision making, who was not involved in the study.

"This finding builds upon the growing body of evidence that addiction may be reinforced not just by drugs themselves but by images and other experiences associated with those drugs," Huettel said in the news release.
For more info- http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=news&id=134482&cn=105