Brain health directly affects an individual's relationships and social life. According to experts, who state that our brain is a stimulus-dependent organ, intense stress and dysfunctional relationships negatively affect the brain. Experts emphasize that loneliness and isolation should be avoided to protect brain health, and point out that spending time with family and the environment is a factor that protects against neurological and psychiatric diseases. Referring to social media that has entered our lives with technology, experts warn that "Virtual social contact can never replace real social contact."
July 22 is accepted as World Brain Day by the World Federation of Neurology.
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Brain health directly affects social life
Assoc. Prof. states that brain health is a factor that directly affects social life. Dr. Barış Metin said:
“We can understand that this relationship is true from the deterioration of social life in many disease cases. Brain diseases that we frequently see can be divided into psychological and neurological. Both psychological and neurological disorders can have negative effects on social life. To give an example of psychological disorders, being exposed to more stress than we can handle for a long time can make a person sensitive, fragile and angry. In this case, it may 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 weakened. Dementias such as Alzheimer's disease impair memory and weaken the patient's ability to communicate with his family and environment. As a result, patients experience social isolation, that is, withdrawal. “Social isolation and loneliness further increase the severity of dementia, creating a vicious circle.”
Autism restricts social life
Assoc. Prof. states that sleep disorders, especially sleep apnea and falling asleep disorders, result in excessive daytime sleepiness and attention-concentration disorders. . Dr. Barış Metin: “These disorders can also disrupt the person's communication with his environment. The neurological disease in which social life is most fundamentally impaired is autism. As it is known, children with autism do not want to communicate socially. autism plain It can be seen not only in children but also in adults and can manifest itself as limitation in social life. We can actually generalize the social influence examples we gave for sleep disorders, Alzheimer's disease, Autism and psychological disorders to all neurological and psychiatric disorders. "Our social life depends on our brain being healthy, our attention and memory working, and our ability to empathize," he said.
The connection between brain and social relations: The Gace Phenomenon
The relationship between the brain and social life was first brought to the agenda as a result of the experiences of Phineas Gace, a railway worker in the USA. Stating that he came, Assoc. Dr. Barış Metin said, “Before the accident, this person was a person who was considered by those around him to have good social relations, be respectful to those around him and loyal to his family. After an accident, a metal rod entered the front 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 began to behave impatiently and irritably towards those around him, turning into an individual who frequently swears, drinks excessively, and is prone to violence. "The Gace Phenomenon" deeply affected the world of neuroscience, showing for the first time how closely related the brain and social relationships are, and making us think that we need to have a healthy brain to have healthy social relationships," he said.
Negative stimuli should be avoided
Assoc. Prof. stated that strong social relationships, having friends, and relationships with family and the environment have positive effects on brain health. Dr. Barış Metin: “Our brain is an organ dependent on stimuli. Our brain must receive constant stimulation to maintain its health. However, the quality of these stimuli is also important. Negative stimuli, intense stress, and broken relationships cause people to become depressed. Depression also negatively affects brain health. "Abilities such as attention and concentration are weak in individuals experiencing intense stress," he warned.
Neglected children have attention and learning problems
Their brain Assoc. Prof. noted that a group of cells in our body are especially sensitive to social stimuli. Dr. Barış Metin: “These neurons enable us to understand and interpret the emotions of the people around us and empathize with them. Not receiving social stimulation or receiving negative stimulation can make the social neurons of our brain inoperable. In such cases, learning functions may be seriously damaged. The most typical example of this situation is neglected children. Attention and learning problems are observed in adulthood in children who are not exposed to enough social stimulation during their growth period. Interestingly, these problems are also seen intensely in individuals between the ages of 0 and 1 who were not given attention during infancy. "These findings show that our brain needs social contact from birth," he said.
Only the elderly are prone to dementia
"Humans are social creatures and cannot live without establishing social relationships." said Assoc. Dr. Barış Metin said, “In order to have healthy brain functions, we need to have healthy relationships. Individuals with any brain disease, especially Alzheimer's-dementia patients, need constant social stimulation. These individuals should not be kept in environments where they will be alone and 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," he warned.
Avoid loneliness for brain health
Assoc. Dr. Barış Metin stated that individuals without dementia should also pay special attention to receiving sufficient stimulation to activate their "social brain" and added: "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," he said.
Virtual contact is not enough
Assoc. Prof. emphasizes that the spread of social media in recent years has caused people's family and friend relationships to deteriorate and social contact to shift to "virtual" environments. Dr. Barış Metin: “Virtual social contact can never replace real social contact. The most important reason for this is that real social contact is multidimensional, covering many senses and skills such as empathy, touch, sound and vision. is. "Spending excessive time on social media disrupts a person's actual social life and actually creates an environment of social isolation," he said.
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