Regular 10almonds readers will know that social connection is vital for good health, and perhaps even that loneliness and isolation literally kill.

Indeed, “a lonely lifestyle” vs “family visit frequency” made it into the list of The Lifestyle Factors That Matter >8 Times More Than Genes

In the case of social connection, it:

• Maintains the parts of our brains needed for language and processing social cues
• Brings us social support in a way that will generally be protective against depression
• Means that when all goes wrong, we more likely have material support too

In the case of loneliness and isolation, it:

• Allows important parts of our brain to atrophy
• Will tend towards promoting depression, which can lead to suicidality (and at the very least a decline of physical health, even without suicidality)
• Means that if we slip in the shower, someone will find our body a month later

We wrote about some of these things, here: How To Beat Loneliness & Isolation

Simply put, humans are, by evolution, social creatures. As individuals we may have something of a spectrum from introvert to extrovert, but as a species, we thrive in community. And we suffer, when we don’t have that.

But the effects affect more than our affects, effecting effects even in seemingly unrelated systems, for example…

Lonely hearts

Loneliness also raises the risk of heart disease by 29% and the risk of stroke by 32%. It also brings about higher susceptibility to illness (flu, COVID, chronic pain, etc), as well as poor sleep quality and cognitive decline, possibly leading to dementia. Not only that, but it also promotes inflammation, and premature death (comparable to smoking).

You can learn more about that, here: What Loneliness Does To Your Brain And Body ← spoiler: it’s nothing good!

This is a particular problem in the US: Why U.S. middle-aged adults report more loneliness and poorer health than peers abroad

And now, the latest science is about loneliness and heart valves, specifically.

Researchers (Dr. Zhaowei Zhu et al.), using a lot of data from the American Heart Association and the UK Biobank, found that loneliness is linked to a much higher risk of developing degenerative heart valve disease.

First, let’s quickly cover what valvular heart disease actually is: definitionally, it’s when one or more heart valves malfunction, and degenerative forms involve valves becoming stiff or leaky, impairing blood flow, with this impairment increasing over time.

And, how much higher is the risk?

In numbers: 11,003 new cases of valve disease were recorded among 462,917 participants, with 28% reporting higher loneliness levels. Those with the highest loneliness levels had a 19% higher risk of degenerative valve disease, including higher risks of aortic valve stenosis (21%) and mitral valve regurgitation (23%).

You might be thinking: “reporting” implies subjectivity; how reliable is this?

And the answer is: very reliable, because that’s a feature not a bug! The loneliness itself (not objective social isolation) was associated with the increased risk, indicating that experience of emotional disconnection matters more than the number of social contacts.

In the words of Dr. Zhu herself:

❝Our findings suggest that loneliness may be an independent and potentially modifiable risk factor for degenerative valvular heart disease.

Identifying this new risk is an important step in potentially preventing valve disease, which can lead to heart failure, reduced quality of life and the need for valve replacement surgery.

Heart valve disease diagnosed in people who reported “feeling lonely” may reflect a biological vulnerability related to an individual’s feelings and emotional well-being, and also a growing societal burden—degenerative valvular heart disease is becoming more common as populations age.❞

You can read the paper itself, here: Social Disconnection, Genetic Risk, and the Incidence of Degenerative Valvular Heart Disease: A Population‐Based Cohort Study

But I am alone and lonely, so what can I do about it?

Aside from the previously-linked “How To Beat Loneliness & Isolation” article, you might also like our previous main feature:

Singledom & Healthy Longevity

…for how to make sure to live a full and fulfilling life, even if you’re going it alone.

And, for that matter, do swing by: When The World Moves Without Us… Can We Side-Step Age-Related Alienation?

Take care!

Getting Your Messy Life In Order

We’ve touched on this before by recommending the book, but today we’re going to give an overview of the absolute most core essentials of the “Getting Things Done” method. If you’re unfamiliar, this will be enough to get you going. If you’re already familiar, this may be a handy reminder!

First, you’ll need:

• A big table
• A block of small memo paper squares—post-it note sized, but no need to be sticky.
• A block of A4 printer paper
• A big trash bag

Gathering everything

Gather up not just all your to-dos, but: all sources of to-dos, too, and anything else that otherwise needs “sorting”.

Put them all in one physical place—a dining room table may have enough room. You’ll need a lot of room because you’re going to empty our drawers of papers, unopened (or opened and set aside) mail. Little notes you made for yourself, things stuck on the fridge or memo boards. Think across all areas of your life, and anything you’re “supposed” to do, write it down on a piece of paper. No matter what area of your life, no matter how big or small.

Whether it’s “learn Chinese” or “take the trash out”, write it down, one item per piece of paper (hence the block of little memo squares).

Sorting everything

Everything you’ve gathered needs one of three things to happen:

• You need to take some action (put it in a “to do” pile)
• You may need it later sometime (put it in a “to file” pile)
• You don’t need it (put it in the big trash bag for disposal)

What happens next will soothe you

• Dispose of the things you put for disposal
• File the things for filing in a single alphabetical filing system. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to get one, so write that down and add it to the “to do” pile.
• You will now process your “to dos”

Processing the “to dos”

The pile you have left is now your “inbox”. It’s probably huge; later it’ll be smaller, maybe just a letter-tray on your desk.

Many of your “to dos” are actually not single action items, they’re projects. If something requires more than one step, it’s a project.

Take each item one-by-one. Do this in any order; you’re going to do this as quickly as possible! Now, ask yourself: is this a single-action item that I could do next, without having to do something else first?

• If yes: put it in a pile marked “next action”
• If no: put it in a pile marked “projects”.

Take a sheet of A4 paper and fold it in half. Write “Next Action” on it, and put your pile of next actions inside it.

Take a sheet of A4 paper per project and write the name of the project on it, for example “Learn Chinese”, or “Do taxes”. Put any actions relating to that project inside it.

Likely you don’t know yet what the first action will be, or else it’d be in your “Next Action” pile, so add an item to each project that says “Brainstorm project”.

Processing the “Next Action” pile

Again you want to do this as quickly as possible, in any order.

For each item, ask yourself “Do I care about this?” If the answer is no, ditch that item, and throw it out. That’s ok. Things change and maybe we no longer want or need to do something. No point in hanging onto it.

For each remaining item, ask yourself “can this be done in under 2 minutes?”.

• If yes, do it, now. Throw away the piece of paper for it when you’re done.
• If no, ask yourself:”could I usefully delegate this to someone else?” If the answer is yes, do so.

If you can’t delegate it, ask yourself: “When will be a good time to do this?” and schedule time for it. A specific, written-down, clock time on a specific calendar date. Input that into whatever you use for scheduling things. If you don’t already use something, just use the calendar app on whatever device you use most.

The mnemonic for the above process is “Do/Defer/Delegate/Ditch”

Processing projects:

If you don’t know where to start with a project, then figuring out where to start is your “Next Action” for that project. Brainstorm it, write down everything you’ll need to do, and anything that needs doing first.

The end result of this is:

• You will always, at any given time, have a complete (and accessible) view of everything you are “supposed” to do.
• You will always, at any given time, know what action you need to take next for a given project.
• You will always, when you designate “work time”, be able to get straight into a very efficient process of getting through your to-dos.

Keeping on top of things

• Whenever stuff “to do something with/about” comes to you, put it in your physical “inbox” place—as mentioned, a letter-tray on a desk should suffice.
• At the start of each working day, quickly process things as described above. This should be a small daily task.
• Once a week, do a weekly review to make sure you didn’t lose sight of something.
• Monthly, quarterly, and annual reviews can be a good practice too.

How to do those reviews? Topic for another day, perhaps.

Or:

Check out the website / Check out GTD apps / Check out the book

No, not by eating it (sorry!), but rather because of how it can be used medicinally:

It’s about saliva

Your teeth are sitting all day every day in a liquid, and a lot of people don’t give much thought to the effect that liquid has on dental health.

But maybe we should, because saliva helps control bacteria, neutralize acids, and maintain mineral balance, so if things go wrong with our saliva (microbiota imbalance, wrong pH, not enough saliva, etc), then we start to have problems with our gums and teeth.

We’ve written about this before, here: Make Your Saliva Better For Your Teeth

So, what’s new? Researchers (Dr. Natara Dias Gomes Da Silva et al.) have created an artificial saliva using a sugarcane-derived protein (known as “CANECPI-5” to its friends), which not only mimics, but also improves, the vital protective role of natural saliva.

How it works: the protein binds directly to enamel and forms a thin protective layer that shields your teeth from acid attacks and bacterial damage. Of its various ways of helping, the most important mechanism is that it increases enamel resistance by reducing demineralization, which is the loss of calcium and phosphate that weakens your teeth and leads to cavities.

And on the microbiota side of things, the formulation didn’t just kill bacteria; it preserved overall microbial diversity while favouring healthier, non-harmful, often helpful, species.

As for how well it works: the treatment has already been tested as a mouthwash, gel, spray, and dissolvable oral film, all of which effectively deliver the protein to your teeth, and it got results comparable to or better than standard products like chlorhexidine.

That said, combining the protein with fluoride and xylitol produced the strongest effects of all.

If you have worries about those two things, then do check out:

• Fluoride Toothpaste vs Non-Fluoride Toothpaste – Which is Healthier?
• Xylitol: Cavity Fighter Or Gut Disruptor?

Other ingredients are also being considered, for example, as Dr. Da Silva herself put it:

❝Another aspect of the project is to associate CANECPI-5 with vitamin E because this vitamin acts as a carrier, bringing the protein into contact with the tooth❞

You can find the paper itself, here: A novel artificial saliva enriched with CaneCPI-5 for irradiated head and neck cancer (HNC) patients: in vitro antimicrobial and anticaries effect

Want to learn more?

For a much deeper-dive into the topic than we have room for here, you might like this book we reviewed a while back:

The Dental Diet: The Surprising Link Between Your Teeth, Real Food, and Life-Changing Natural Health – by Dr. Steven Lin ← this pertains to a lot more than just “avoided added sugar and acidic things”, and covers such topics as the fat-soluble vitamins that are essential to teeth health, and what’s good or bad for our oral microbiome (and thus our saliva, and thus our teeth and gums), and more.

See also:

• Why Healthy Teeth May Depend On Omega-3 & Exercise
• Fish Oil Can Backfire Without This Enzyme
• Morin: Your Mouth’s New Best Friend

Finally, you might also like to read this three-part series on dental health:

• Toothpastes & Mouthwashes: Which Help And Which Harm?
• Flossing Without Flossing?
• Less Common Oral Hygiene Options ← we recommend the miswak! Not only does it clean the teeth as well as or better than traditional brushing, but also it does similarly to the protein being discussed today, and changes the composition of saliva to improve the oral microbiome, effectively turning your saliva into a biological mouthwash that kills unwanted microbes and is comfortable for the ones that should be there.

Take care!