news or visit our website dot com. welcome to you in good shape coming up on today's show. what to do when medicine makes you gain weight. why exercise is really good for your brain. and why loneliness can be very bad for your health. and here's your host dr custom like you talked. to you know this feeling the feeling of loneliness although you are surrounded by other people in britain they even created

a new ministry for this in ministry for loneliness when loneliness becomes a problem this is what i'm going to talk about with dr lee he's a psychotherapist and the head of the feed the clinic in the heart of prelim welcome to in good shape. no food no mother no. suspicion. our world of becoming faster more digital and more urban and that comes with an increased risk for no nest and therefore it's high time to put loneliness on the popular health agenda. if you are chronically feeling lonely you are at a higher risk for developing certain dangerous diseases like cancer or a heart attack this is what several studies show worldwide. loneliness

a new epidemic. the new smoking. 6 and insidious diagnosis. killer number one. what's behind these dramatic headlines scientists have been warning about the health risks of loneliness for 15 years in 2010 researchers co they did 148 studies from around the world and the result was eyeopening. it showed loneliness and social isolation to have the biggest negative effect on life expectancy even greater than alcoholism and obesity. loneliness has been on the rise for years. but it's just a feeling. how can it have such a big impact on our physical health. scientists suspect the answer to

this question lies in our past when living in communities was crucial to our survival it was much easier to find food in a group which would help ensure reproduction and the survival of the offspring it also helped to protect against danger such as attacks from other animals. expulsion from the group would mean living in permanent mortal danger under constant stress. researchers think we may have a mechanism that puts the body on alert when we lose the protection of the group. and experiment shows if and how this ancient mechanism still affects us in stressful situations today.

thank you i think i'm well qualified for the. the office assistant job because i like doing research. this interview is actually a stress test in disguise the unsuspecting person is deliberately put under pressure. now a concentration exercise. 3079 wrong try again with one of the top 300-1000 people a little faster. the test was conducted with 2 groups of people and the stress hormone cortisol was measured in their saliva subjects with a lot of social contacts only had a moderate increase in cortisol. researchers think this is because belonging to a group gives you security and may give the individual a feeling of support even if they're alone. on the other

hand test subjects with few social contacts had higher cortisol levels. other studies show that the level of them stays elevated throughout the whole day this puts the body on alert mode which means worse sleep as well as raised blood pressure and blood sugar. cortisol can also weaken the activity of the immune system and that's obviously not healthy long term. lonely and isolated people are also at significantly higher risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease it's therefore important that we think of loneliness as more than a purely socio psychological problem i'm here with doctor at the gym and this is one of the most busiest places in berlin but nonetheless people can feel lonesome here. we normally feel lonely. a lot of people

around us and we do not feel connected to them that's what loneliness. there's a new trend that people move into big cities so this is a dangerous trend because they feel more lonely here cities. come with more anonymity and this is definitely a risk factor towards more social isolation and towards more loneliness. but when is it a problem to feel lonely we go to view a question from some about from a boss he writes i'm a creative person i've tried to draw in any make pictures i don't feel the need to make friends or rely on to relationships so even if i spent days alone or told i don't feel lonely so it's normal. feeling lonely and being alone is not at all the same thing. we usually can have

a very good time when we are alone it's. recreate time for many of us. after a busy day but it's not the same as feel as feeling lonely. if we feel lonely we normally are not alone but have people around us and we do not feel related to them that's loneliness and that's a completely different thing than being alone we just saw in the report that feeling lonely can cause some diseases so could you say that loneliness is the new smoking well we do have a lot of well made studies in the recent years that show that social isolation or subjective. side loneliness is a very negative predictor for physical or mental health total isolation. is. more related to premature. mortality

than obesity and smoking. or alcohol abuse so if i do feel lonely i should change. yes you should change something loneliness is in a way. emotional or mental pain and is an indicator that there is something. at risk in your mental health situation and that it's time to build up a social network and the social support system which is again protected for all but what makes us literally is more like a behavioral pattern or is it more the circumstances in life where it's usually both circumstances and our behavior

a change in behavior can be helpful to counter act. relation and loneliness if we try to open up a bit more towards other people or to. get to know our neighbor. or find ourselves people. around us in our neighborhoods that. well that's behavioral change which can help to build up a social support system right so you wrote a book about mental health living in the city and you said that we all should build up our social capital what does it mean it means basically you know. going through your address book every now and then and. check if there are people with you again relates to or. other old friends that you can give

a call and try to rebuild an old friendship can. hope you know build up your social network and that's something which is extremely good for you but the problem is if you move to another city you lose your old social contacts and you feel very lonely but perhaps there are other people lonely close to you and you can find them on the internet platform. whoever looks behind the facade behind closed doors people happy and sociable or are they lonely and isolated through not avoiding the worst thing about loneliness is that it happens within your own 4 walls which hides it from the outside. question filemon experienced it himself he lives in busy berlin despite having a happy family and professional success he felt miserable. he grew up in a village and the anonymity of the city bothered him he felt like a stranger in his neighborhood what could he do to change things what about ringing

the neighbors door bell at the forest and when i stood there in front of the doorbell my heart was racing i've never been so nervous in my life it felt like such an unbelievable hurdle. he went on to found the internet platform navan and dot de it allows people who live around the corner but don't know one another to get in touch online and meet and network of people you don't know the opposite to facebook because. it's the ideal door opener you know what i mean we just want to lower the hurdle a bit so you can take the 1st step then you can break the ice and it all gets easier after that. the network now has 800000 members across germany including daniela maya from mannheim. the single mother was looking for new friendships and found a fly if an even and de in her mailbox left that by

a neighbor she signed up on the website. the network offers a wide range of services neighbors sell bicycles look for helpers all seek like minded people for a common hobby once registered anyone can invite more neighbors. in need of facebook i'm not on facebook i don't like started on the phone but i found a note in the mailbox and i thought to myself i might as well go along with it because i can get to know people right away from like my neighbor across the street who i'd never seen before. so that's really great. circuit systems book out. now daniel as neighbors come to visit often 'd she's become an important figure in her neighborhood she organizes game after names and living room concerts . new people join the platform all the

time. as many ships for sale does housing thing there's only 8 of us in my building but it's some anonymous. even if i do meet someone on the stand while we exchange 2 sentences and not say why is it so he now says. we should terminate people meet up people with the same goal to get away from the anonymity. devotedly want to see who's living 3 houses away on a retreat house when i didn't know that there was this really nice lady living 5 minutes away from me it's been a really nice experience for me you know. for me to touch an afghan. man is confident that the online network will help many more people fight loneliness. people finding social connections via an internet platform so how important is a complete infrastructure in real life was such an internet platform can be helpful

at least for those who have easy access to the digital world such an app or an internet platform can help us to understand the neighborhood true to learn about a new living environment. and to help us to find 1st to do the 1st steps of building up a sore spot system absolutely is there an age group which is especially prone to loneliness well normally we assume that it's the. old age people who suffer from isolation and loneliness but recent studies show that isolation and the feeling of loneliness can be present in all age groups we even find. a pic of loneliness. around the

age of 30. and we find. particularly noted loneliness scores in people aged about 75 but in the old age 80 and older and loneliness is a very very common problem if we focus on younger people we see that they're constantly active in social networks like facebook or whatsapp so do those social networks make us lonely well there is at least a risk for loneliness. if someone loses himself or herself into the digital world if we isolate from friends in the real world but sometimes this is difficult over the last years many people fled to germany losing the social contacts in their home country so is this a big danger of becoming lonely yes absolutely people with

a migration background and especially people. who have made the experience of flight under. complicated or dangerous circumstances are at an increased risk of feeling lonely or feeling isolated. and that is again. related to an increased risk of mental health problems so is there something like an antidote against looking. well the best antidote is to find yourself. a peer group to find. another person who shares the same background to share the same values or share the same experience. and such a peer is absolutely help for against the feelings of loneliness and mental health problems which can arise from that is there a way to feel connected to the world even if i don't have so many social contacts.

well the number of social contacts is a is not the criterion for feeling lonely or not because we are all very different by our nature and by our personalities and there are some who. just have enough social contacts if they have if they have one good friend to share their or everyday life with and there are again others who needs a whole bunch of people around them to feel sufficiently socially connected so it's not the it's not the quantity it's the quality of social contacts which counteracts isolation thank you so much for this interesting talk your work come and if you've got any questions you like me to ask our experts be sure to write a mean email. in good shape if you're a weekly health show on d

w that covers many aspects of health care we look at what's new in medical treatment nutrition fitness and beauty we discuss these topics and depth with specialists and offer you opportunities to pose your own questions so get in touch . do you want to overcome loneliness then get off your chair and start exercising. preferably in a group. the chances of making a connection here are great and exercise is not only good for your body it's good for your brain to. get a good muscle started working out every tuesday she wanted to energize her body and her mind. if i'm doing something and i get interrupted. say by a phone call i sometimes can't remember what it was i was doing. i want to combat

that to stop it from getting too bad or even stop it altogether yeah that's. why. she works out with a personal trainer today she's doing exercises for her abs legs and back. sometimes i get sore muscles but that's as it should be obvious and. the 71 year old isn't just doing it for herself though this is also for research purposes. she and around 50 other senior citizens are taking part in an exercise project it's about boosting stamina strength and coordination and also establishing what kind of exercise is best for maintaining mental capacities. smok there's also the from also game it's reasonable

to assume that's a complex training program yields the best results that's what we want to prove. the project lasts for 18 months initial results indicate that many of the participants have improved their long term memory and their working memory. to a shopping list or a phone number read out to you and your name when you're introduced to someone being able to store more of these things in your working memory makes every day life easier. exercise goes to your head but what processes does it trigger that that's a question for the brain researchers that dresden stack nicol university they discovered that the brains of sporty mice had a better blood supply and improved so growth. there's a region in the brain that's responsible for learning and memory new neurons are formed there throughout your life and this increases when mice are more active

physically and mentally. activity it turns out stimulates the growth of neurons in the brains of mice the hypothesis is that since humans are genetically similar to mice such increased neuron growth could well occur in the brains of active humans to. remaining active in old age has a huge effect but it's even bigger when you're younger so start early you'll definitely get more out of it than starting at the last minute. of. noise and. i think doing nothing as an option it doesn't help you at all. exercise really is good for the body and the mind and a little bit of effort goes a long way. not all people who suddenly gain weight eat too much

sometimes prescribed medication is to blame. before being prescribed cortisone doctor's assistant suzanna reaper wait $55.00 kilos after taking the medicine she gained almost 20 she's now 3 sizes bigger than she used to be. the sun is terrible you can see it in my face it's a round and a little bit puffy i never used to look this way in 2011 she was diagnosed with crohn's disease and inflammatory bowel disorder she was prescribed cortisone it successfully reduce the inflammation but her weight went up after a few months it was clear that the cortisone was to blame. rheumatologist gabriella green constant is familiar with the problem when romantic information needs to be fought quickly cortisone is the best treatment but she uses it sparingly and inflammation uses up a lot of energy and if you reduce it or eliminate it completely then you can be

eating the same amount you always have but if you're taking cortisone you're going to gain weight because the body isn't using up as much energy. cortizone is a stress hormone that signals to the body to eat more to be ready for hard times to sign a beeper tries to counter that effect by eating less she's now taking different medications but she still hasn't got her trim figure back. the rheumatologist suggests a smaller dose of cortisone if it can't be avoided completely. even we've been for giving the patient high doses to begin with but pretty quickly switch into very small amounts like 10 milligrams and then tapering it. gaining weight on medicine the same can happen with insulin. 10 years ago hildegarde's will come up was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or specialist

prescribed insulin but there were side effects. it wasn't like i went out every afternoon to eat cake or anything but i gained weight slowly but surely in salinas that's why insulin is a problem because it rules out weight reduction insulin makes you gain weight. hildegarde decided to stop taking insulin she doesn't have to check her blood sugar anymore because her new medications work differently. one of them works on the intestines and the other removes the sugar from the blood and expels it through the urine. she's lost 20 kilos. when does it you know i want to prescribe these new medicines which reduce diabetes to a mild form we would not only prevent patients from gaining weight and help them avoid complicated incident therapy we could also avert other side effects of you tube our p.'s and on some patients even lose weight to the point that their

diabetes is gone the committees and put up the steady. hildegarde so comp one stopes diabetes hasn't gone away but her metabolism has improved and her blood pressure has stabilized it's not just the medication the lawyer also changed her eating habits eating fewer carbohydrates and more vegetables and protein. that's it for today see you next week and i'm so then let's stay together in good shape.

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