Brain health directly affects an individual's relationships and social life. According to experts, our brain is a stimulus-dependent organ, and intense stress and broken relationships negatively affect the brain. Emphasizing that loneliness and isolation should be avoided to protect brain health, experts point out that spending time with family and the environment is a factor that protects against neurological and psychiatric diseases. Referring to the social media that has entered our lives with technology, experts warn that "Virtual social contact is never a substitute for real social contact".
July 22 is recognized as World Brain Day by the World Federation of Neurology. Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital Neurology Specialist Prof. Dr. Barış Metin said that there is a very important relationship between brain health and social life.
Brain health directly affects social life
Stating that brain health is a factor that directly affects social life, Prof. Dr. Barış Metin said:
"We can understand that this relationship is true by the deterioration of social life in many diseases. Common brain diseases can be divided into psychological and neurological. Both psychological and neurological disorders can have negative effects on social life. If we give an example from psychological disorders, being exposed to more stress than we can handle for a long time can make a person sensitive, fragile and irritable. This can disrupt relationships in family and social life. Neurological diseases can also disrupt social life. In many neurological disorders, cognitive abilities such as attention, concentration and memory are impaired. Dementias such as Alzheimer's disease impair memory and weaken the patient's ability to communicate with family and friends. As a result, patients experience social isolation or withdrawal. Social isolation and loneliness further increase the severity of dementia, creating a vicious circle."
Autism restricts social life
Prof. Dr. Barış Metin stated that sleep disorders, especially sleep apnea and sleep-disordered falling asleep, lead to excessive daytime sleepiness and attention-concentration disorders. Autism is the neurological disease in which social life is most fundamentally impaired. As is known, children with autism do not want to communicate socially. Autism can be seen not only in children but also in adults and can manifest itself as a limitation in social life. The examples we have given for sleep disorders, Alzheimer's disease, autism and psychological disorders can be generalized to all neurological and psychiatric disorders. Our social life depends on the health of our brain, our attention and memory, and our ability to empathize."
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The connection between the brain and social relations: The Gace Case
Stating that the relationship between the brain and social life was first brought to the agenda as a result of the experiences of Phineas Gace, a railroad worker in the USA, Prof. Dr. Barış Metin said: "This person was a person who had good social relations, was respectful to others and was considered to be loyal to his family before the accident. After an accident, a metal rod entered the anterior part of his brain and caused significant damage to the front part of his brain, as shown in the figure below. Interestingly, Gace survived this accident. After the accident, relatives, family and friends observed significant changes in Gace. Gace became impatient and irritable with his surroundings, swore frequently, drank excessively and became violent. The "Gace Case" profoundly affected the world of neuroscience, showing for the first time how closely related the brain and social relationships are and suggesting that we need to have a healthy brain to have healthy social relationships."
Negative stimuli should be avoided
Prof. Dr. Barış Metin stated that having strong social relations, having friends, family and environmental relations also have positive effects on brain health and said, "Our brain is a stimulus-dependent organ. Our brain must receive constant stimuli to maintain its health. However, the quality of these stimuli is also important. Negative stimuli, intense stress, broken relationships cause people to become depressed. Depression also negatively affects brain health. Skills such as attention and concentration are weak in individuals who experience intense stress."
Neglected children have attention and learning problems
Noting that a group of cells in our brain are particularly sensitive to social stimuli, Prof. Dr. Barış Metin said, "These neurons allow us to understand and interpret the emotions of the people around us and empathize with them. Not receiving social stimuli or receiving negative stimuli can render the social neurons of our brain inoperable. In such cases, learning functions can be seriously damaged. The most typical example is neglected children. Children who are not exposed to enough social stimuli during their growing period have attention and learning problems in adulthood. Interestingly, these problems are also seen intensely in individuals who do not receive attention during infancy between the ages of 0 and 1. These findings show that our brain needs social contact from birth."
Lonely elderly are prone to dementia
Prof. Dr. Barış Metin said, "Human being is a social creature and cannot live without establishing social relationships." Prof. Dr. Barış Metin said, "In order to have healthy brain functions, we need to have healthy relationships. Especially individuals with any brain disease, Alzheimer's-dementia patients need constant social stimuli. These individuals should not be kept alone and in environments where they will be deprived of social stimuli. Elderly people should be protected against loneliness and should not stay in environments where they will be alone. Lonely elderly people get dementia much earlier."
Avoid loneliness for brain health
Prof. Dr. Barış Metin stated that individuals without dementia should also pay special attention to receive sufficient stimuli to activate their "social brain" and said, "Loneliness and isolation should be avoided for brain health. Spending time with family and the environment is a factor that protects us from neurological and psychiatric diseases."
Virtual contact is not enough
Prof. Dr. Barış Metin emphasized that the widespread use of social media in recent years has caused people's family and friend relationships to deteriorate and social contact to shift to "virtual" environments, "Virtual social contact is never a substitute for real social contact. The most important reason for this is that real social contact is multidimensional, including many senses and skills such as empathy, touch, sound and image. Spending excessive time on social media disrupts the actual social life of the person and actually creates an environment of social isolation."
