Acts of kindness prevent a downw

DAY 62 Acts of kindness prevent a downward spiral from solitude to loneliness

downward spiral   螺旋下降   [ˈdaʊnwəd ˈspaɪrəl]

To be alone and to be lonely are not the same thing

1 Loneliness is bad for your health—certainly as bad as being obese, and possibly as bad as being a moderate smoker. So, in these days of plague, when enforced solitude is the order of the day in many places, how to stop solitude turning into loneliness is a pressing medical question.

obese   /əʊˈbiːs/   ​(of people) very fat, in a way that is not healthy

moderate   /ˈmɒdərət/   
 a moderate smoker. 适度吸烟者(理性吸烟)

 the order of the day
1>  (formal) in a parliament or in formal meetings, the list of matters to be discussed on a particular day
2>  (informal) something that is very common or important:

the order of the day
1> the business or tasks appointed for an assembly for a given day
2>  the characteristic or dominant feature or activity

a pressing medical question   急需解决的医疗问题

2 One part of the answer is to try to understand the physiology of the change. And that has, for the past few years, been the objective of Steven Cole of the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr Cole began his work with a study he published in 2015, in collaboration with John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago. The pair led a team of psychologists, neuroscientists and immunologists who found that the pattern in people’s blood of immune cells called myeloid cells is notably different in those who score as “very lonely” on loneliness tests compared with those who do not.

physiology   /ˌfɪziˈɒlədʒi/   n.生理学; 生理机能;
1>  the scientific study of the normal functions of living things
2>  ​[uncountable, singular] the way in which a particular living thing functions

psychologist   /saɪˈkɒlədʒɪst/ 
​a scientist who studies and is trained in psychology

neuroscientist   /ˈnjʊərəʊsaɪəntɪst/ 
a scientist who studies the structure and function of the brain and the nervous system

immunologist

myeloid cells  髓样细胞; 骨髓细胞; 髓细胞; 髓系细胞;

3 Lonely people have unusually low numbers of a type of myeloid cell that generates what are known as interferon responses, which hamper viral replication. This makes them particularly vulnerable to viral infections. They also have an abundance of a second type of myeloid cell, one that promotes the activity of genes which drive inflammation—and it has been known for years that those who feel lonely experience more inflammation than those who do not.

 interferon responses 干扰素反应
interferon  /ˌɪntəˈfɪərɒn/
​a substance produced by the body to prevent harmful viruses from causing disease    

inflammation    [ˌɪnfləˈmeɪʃn]    n.发炎; 炎症
​a condition in which a part of the body becomes red, painful and swollen (= larger than normal) because of infection or injury

4 These correlations are intriguing, but do not explain which comes first, the loneliness or the myeloid response. Dr Cole and Dr Cacioppo addressed that question by repeatedly measuring perceptions of social isolation in individual volunteers, while simultaneously tracking, from blood samples, their gene-expression patterns and other changes in their physiology. They found that, initially, volunteers’ feelings of isolation coincided with an increase in their inflammation genes’ activity and a concomitant increase in the circulation of immature immune cells, called monocytes, that are involved in inflammation—and which are also known to travel into the brain and promote anxiety. They noted, too, increased levels in the brain of signalling molecules associated with both inflammation and behaviours such as social withdrawal, feelings of suspicion towards the outside world and a tendency to act more defensively by making decisions that involve few risks. That, of course, promotes further feelings of loneliness. Which, in turn, trigger a further myeloid response. And so on.

intriguing   [ɪnˈtriːɡɪŋ]

addressed  the question = cope with the question

coincided with    v.与…一致; [ˌkəʊɪnˈsaɪd wɪð]

concomitant    [kənˈkɒmɪtənt]   同时伴随的   

monocytes  /ˈmɒnəsaɪt/  单核白细胞

social withdrawal 社交能力的丧失

feelings of suspicion towards the outside world  抑郁倾向

a tendency to act more defensively by making decisions that involve few risks 抑郁情绪的表现

5 It seems, therefore, that though loneliness starts with solitude, it can quickly take on a physiological life of its own. Dr Cole thus worries that the enforced isolation, brought about by current circumstances, of those who are already living alone may create in many people a state of chronic loneliness that is difficult to escape from when things start returning to normal.

 take on
承担，接受（尤指艰巨工作或重大责任）; 呈现，显出（新面貌或新特点）; （公共汽车、船舶等）上（客），装（货），补充（燃料） ; 雇用; 录用; 与（尤指实力比自己强的人）较量; 接受…的挑战; 擅自决定; 自作主张;

chronic    ˈkrɒnɪk
adj.长期的; 慢性的; 难以治愈(或根除)的; 长期患病的; 糟透的; 拙劣的;

6 Dealing with this will not be a simple matter of allowing people to socialise once again. Because the myeloid feedback loop makes those affected more defensive and suspicious, the mere presence of others is not enough to restore the status quo. Something else is needed, too.

restore the status quo  回到现状

the status quo   /ˌsteɪ.təs ˈkwəʊ/
the present situation:

解决这个孤独的问题，不仅仅是需要社交这样一种方法。

7 In search of that something Dr Cole carried out—this time in collaboration with Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside—a series of experiments that encouraged healthy people to direct simple acts of kindness towards their fellow creatures: things like running an errand for an elderly neighbour or helping a colleague with a computer problem. Participants had their blood drawn in order to examine their myeloid responses. Those directed to show kindness to others on a weekly basis had precisely the opposite gene-expression activity to that previously seen in the lonely by Dr Cole and Dr Cacioppo.

in search of  寻找; 寻求;
carry out  实施; 执行; 实行;

 in collaboration with   与……合作; 与合作; 合作; 与…合作; 会同;
/kəˌlæbəˈreɪʃn/ 

 psychologist    /saɪˈkɒlədʒɪst/  n.心理学家;
加州大学河滨分校（University of California, Riverside，简称 UC Riverside或UCR）是世界一流综合性研究型大学 

series /ˈsɪəriːz/

direct   管理; 监督; 指导 

errand   [ˈerənd]  n.差使; 差事;
a job that you do for somebody that involves going somewhere to take a message, to buy something, deliver goods, etc.

myeloid  ['maiəlɔid] ; adj.骨髓的，骨髓性的;

a weekly basis 
（on）a weekly or monthly Basis 每周或者每月 

8 Dr Lyubomirsky now picked up the baton. In collaboration with Dr Cole and with Megan Fritz, a colleague at Riverside, she repeated the study, but with a twist. Instead of looking only at participants’ myeloid responses, she also asked them specific questions about loneliness.

 baton    [ˈbætɒn]
  n.(乐队) 指挥棒; (接力赛的) 接力棒; (行进中军乐队队长的) 指挥杖;
1>  a short thick stick that police officers carry as a weapon

9 As she and her colleagues reported to this year’s conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, held in New Orleans in February, they found that in the case of loneliness, the saying about it being more blessed to give than to receive is true. Asking lonely people to perform acts of kindness to others significantly reduced the offerer’s feelings of loneliness, as well as the myeloid response that drives inflammation. Also, and perhaps portentously given the meeting’s timing, Dr Fritz and Dr Lyubomirsky reported the preliminary results of a second study. This compared the effect on a lonely person’s feelings of acts of kindness he or she performed face to face with those performed online: donating money to a gofundme effort, for example, or writing a thank-you note to a friend.

 in the case of   就……来说

  portentously [pɔː'tentəsli]   adv. 有预兆地；不祥地
1>  in a way that is important as a sign or a warning of something that is going to happen in the future, especially when it is something unpleasant
2>  ​(formal, disapproving) in a very serious way that is intended to impress people  = pompously ( /ˈpɒmpəsli/  ​in a way that shows that you think you are more important than other people, especially by using long and formal words )

 given  考虑到

* potent   /ˈpəʊtnt/   adj.有强效的; 烈性的; 影响身心的; 强有力的;
1>  ​having a strong effect on your body or mind
2>  powerful

gofundme  在线募捐平台（水滴筹）

 effort  项目
 the result of an attempt to do something

10 The study’s results suggest that online kindness has the same beneficial effect as the face-to-face variety. And that could help to address Dr Cole’s fears of a post-covid loneliness epidemic. No doubt (though this was beyond the scope of these studies) merely having contact with others while staying in isolation is beneficial to those at risk of loneliness. But asking lonely people to use those means to commit random acts of kindness to others might go beyond this, and be just what the doctor ordered.

address = cope with 处理；应对

covid = Corona Virus Disease
这是一个新的合成词汇，所zhidao以取Corona的前回两个字母 Co,取Virus 的前两个字母 vi,以及取Disease的一个首字母，组成 Covid，你可以把每个单词单独读出来，也可以根据答自然拼读读作co-vi-d, [kɔ:vd].

But asking lonely people to use those means to commit random acts of kindness to others might go beyond this, and be just what the doctor ordered.  还是要听取医生的观点