Shyness Can Be Deadly

[indigobusiness]

How you react to stress influences how easily you resist or succumb to disease, including viruses like HIV, discovered UCLA AIDS Institute scientists. Reported in the Dec.15 edition of Biological Psychiatry, the new findings identify the immune mechanism that makes shy people more susceptible to infection than outgoing people.

"Since ancient Greece, physicians have noticed that persons with a 'melancholic temperament' are more vulnerable to viral infections," said Steve Cole, principal investigator and assistant professor of hematology-oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine and a member of the UCLA AIDS Institute.

snip

"Our findings suggest that high nervous system activity helps the virus continue replicating," Cole said. "Patients with high-stress personalities continued to lose T-cells -- even on the best drug therapy available. Stress sabotages their battle against this lethal disease."

"It looks as though sensitive people are simply wired to respond to stress more strongly than resilient people," Naliboff said. "How someone reacts to stress seems to be more important than the stress itself in explaining why one person gets sick and one person doesn't."


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/12/031217073905.htm

[jay-3d]

1. great, I'm shy

[Nay]

16. Terrific. I'm shy too. And I find constant contact with people (which

I must do as a part of my job) is VERY stressful. Lovely. Just lovely. Not only can't I be a loner, I'm going to die from the stress of forcing myself to not act like one every day.

[22181]

2. That's it...

If this is true, I'm good as dead.

:)
(High strung, highly sensitive, very shy, introverted and uptight. Yes, I'm well aware of my own social flaws.)

[jay-3d]

4. then we try to feel more at ease

and end-up drunk chain smokers to add to the risk of disease

[22181]

5. I'm with ya on drunk...

Never could get the hang of smoking though. How lucky am I? I took up smoking and couldn't get addicted to it. :)

[indigobusiness]

8. Welcome to DU

Now go to your room.


(actually, you sound pretty interesting)

[22181]

9. Thanks for the speedy welcome!

Seeing as how I'm going to die early, it's appreciated.

I like to think I'm interesting, but I have been told I suffer from delusions of grandeur. :)

In truth I'm just your average ordinary geek chick, a wallflower until I'm drunk. Then I'm like Janeane Garofolo without the cool glasses.

[indigobusiness]

15. Keep your delusions...

but dye your hair red.

[BootinUp]

3. Next week

a study contradicting these findings will be released.

[Jim Sagle]

6. I'm shy, but I don't get sick much.

:shrug:

[patdem]

7. Of course if you are gregarious and hang around in bars or places

where there are lots of people hepatitis c is in play...I guess there is a bunch of reasons to be who you are...both pro and con??? :shrug:

[Stew225]

10. Even though I used to be in the media and public

eye, I still shy. (sounds like a country song)

I don't smoke or drink but I have this disgusting habit of snorting sauerkraut.

[tridim]

11. So us shy people can now add another dimension to our stress level

Joy! Actually I'm pretty laid back for a shy guy, at least I was until I read this article. ;)

[indigobusiness]

12. It's a vicious circle...

I'm stressing.

[enki23]

13. it's not "shyness" it's intellectual honesty

so-called "shy" people, depressed people, and stressed-out people in general have been shown numerous times to have a more realistic outlook on life.

in other words: rose-colored glasses are good for you--in a narrow, selfish sense.. it's us non-rosy sorts who actually give a damn, however. we're more likely to help you when your car is stranded on the side of the road. we're more likely to do something, call the cops, anything, if we see you being mugged or raped. don't believe me? take it up with the social psychologists.

we're the ones who actually *see* the homeless, the jobless, the beaten down. we have realistic expectations for people who buy lottery tickets. we know how likely it is that we'll ever fully realize our dreams, know that relationships can--and usually do--eventually sour. we know cutting taxes on the rich won't fucking help the poor. we weren't fooled by ronald reagan and his transparent, bullshit "optimism." we know george bush doesn't give a damn about leaving any child behind. we know that kerry won't really do a lot to fix anything. we know our neighbors are assholes, and we know they think we're assholes. we know we *are* assholes, as often as not.

maybe that's why we're stressed. it's not that we're "hard-wired" to "deal poorly with stress." maybe we're stressed because we're "hard-wired" to be aware of god damned reality. maybe we're stressed out because we see all the shit in the world, because it's there, because we're knee-deep in it, because we fucking pay attention.

and sometimes, sometimes you'll just have to forgive us if we're too paralyzed by our stress to make anything better. the optimists aren't getting anything done either. they just live a little longer.

[Capt_Nemo]

14. Couldn't have said it better...

...Oh, and peak oil will be there for the low-stressed too! :evilgrin:

[Nay]

17. An excellent rant, enki23. I agree completely. My stress level

goes skyhigh when even reality in front of their faces doesn't perturb the masses.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

18. Well, I'm pretty much dead then!

Goodbye, world!

Lol..ah well, I'll make the most of whatever small number of years I have left, I guess!