Is it true that strong "social connections" are required for happiness?

[criptix]

You might wanna read the results part of the paper you linked.

Yes you are either not reading properly or ignoring parts that does not help your standpoint.

Funny thing is the result of the paper your linked is agreeing to benson ( and therefor with me)

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[tee-rex]

You might wanna read the results part of the paper you linked.

Yes you are either not reading properly or ignoring parts that does not help your standpoint.

Funny thing is the result of the paper your linked is agreeing to benson ( and therefor with me)

What part do you refer to? What results are you talking about? That people are able to change the temperature of their hands and body in the range of normal body temperature? This is still a far cry from being able to kill oneself with the power of thought. You never had your palms and back perspiring at some disturbing news or video?

You get agitated, and your body temperature rises to a point where it starts perspiration to cool down. What is eerie or supernatural about this?

[criptix]

It seems you have some difficulties to read sources proberly.
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html

During visits to remote monasteries in the 1980s, Benson and his team studied monks living in the Himalayan Mountains who could, by g Tum-mo meditation, raise the temperatures of their fingers and toes by as much as 17 degrees. It has yet to be determined how the monks are able to generate such heat.

The researchers also made measurements on practitioners of other forms of advanced meditation in Sikkim, India. They were astonished to find that these monks could lower their metabolism by 64 percent. "It was an astounding, breathtaking [no pun intended] result," Benson exclaims.

To put that decrease in perspective, metabolism, or oxygen consumption, drops only 10-15 percent in sleep and about 17 percent during simple meditation. Benson believes that such a capability could be useful for space travel. Travelers might use meditation to ease stress and oxygen consumption on long flights to other planets.
[...]
"Lazar found a marked decrease in blood flow to the entire brain," Benson explains. "At the same time, certain areas of the brain became more active, specifically those that control attention and autonomic functions like blood pressure and metabolism. In short, she showed the value of using this method to record changes in the brain's activity during meditation."

/edit

I just read the article you linked:

A limitation affecting the generalizability our findings is the small sample size due to the sacredness of the practice and difficulties in accessing g-tummo practitioners. Despite this limitation, we were able, for the first time, to document reliable CBT increases during the FB type of g-tummo practice, all within the slight to moderate fever zone, validating the legends of the extraordinary capacity of g-tummo meditators to elevate their body temperature beyond normal. However, the results also suggest that temperature increases during g-tummo meditation are neither solely a by-product of meditation nor its goal, but instead may be a means to facilitate the achievement of “deep meditative states”. The g-tummo meditators may use the CBT increases as a vehicle to enhance their attention and focus their meditative performance (which may in turn facilitate a further increase in their temperature through meditative visualization). Future studies of experts in g-tummo meditation who are capable of elevating and maintaining elevated CBT may offer promising research insights and approaches to investigating mechanisms of CBT regulation. Because many variables underlying neuronal functioning (e.g., transport via ion-selective channels, amplitude and duration of single-unit spikes) are temperature-dependent [42], [43], possibility of self-regulation of CBT may have a direct effect on self-regulating and maximizing neurocognitive activity. If future studies show that it is possible to self regulate CBT, by mastering vase breathing in conjunction with guided mental imagery without extensive meditation experience, it will open a wide range of possible medical and behavior interventions, such as adapting to and functioning in hostile (cold) environments, improving resistance to infections, boosting cognitive performance by speeding response time, and reducing performance problems associated with decreased body temperature as reported in human factor studies of shift work and continuous night operations [44], [45].

This quote.

i dont think you read my post properly either.
nowhere did i state what you are saying ( killing oneself with a though)

like i though you didnt even read the article you linked right?
see bolded part of quote.

You should stop making a idiot of yourself.
try to read _and_ understand.

[Wilikon]

I just saw a PBS show about emotional health that claims "social connections" are required for happiness. Do you believe this is true? ...or
Perhaps it is propaganda to undermine the happiness of independent people who don't always require the "emotional support" of others?

What do you think?
Is it true that strong "social connections" are required for happiness?

I believe reading/posting on bitcointalk.org makes me happy... So that must be true. That is why I am replying to you.

 

[tee-rex]

I just read the article you linked:

A limitation affecting the generalizability our findings is the small sample size due to the sacredness of the practice and difficulties in accessing g-tummo practitioners. Despite this limitation, we were able, for the first time, to document reliable CBT increases during the FB type of g-tummo practice, all within the slight to moderate fever zone, validating the legends of the extraordinary capacity of g-tummo meditators to elevate their body temperature beyond normal. However, the results also suggest that temperature increases during g-tummo meditation are neither solely a by-product of meditation nor its goal, but instead may be a means to facilitate the achievement of “deep meditative states”. The g-tummo meditators may use the CBT increases as a vehicle to enhance their attention and focus their meditative performance (which may in turn facilitate a further increase in their temperature through meditative visualization). Future studies of experts in g-tummo meditation who are capable of elevating and maintaining elevated CBT may offer promising research insights and approaches to investigating mechanisms of CBT regulation. Because many variables underlying neuronal functioning (e.g., transport via ion-selective channels, amplitude and duration of single-unit spikes) are temperature-dependent [42], [43], possibility of self-regulation of CBT may have a direct effect on self-regulating and maximizing neurocognitive activity. If future studies show that it is possible to self regulate CBT, by mastering vase breathing in conjunction with guided mental imagery without extensive meditation experience, it will open a wide range of possible medical and behavior interventions, such as adapting to and functioning in hostile (cold) environments, improving resistance to infections, boosting cognitive performance by speeding response time, and reducing performance problems associated with decreased body temperature as reported in human factor studies of shift work and continuous night operations [44], [45].

This quote.

i dont think you read my post properly either.
nowhere did i state what you are saying ( killing oneself with a though)

What?!

I didn't mean running or any other physical activity (the example with cyclists was to show the physiological range which can be experienced by a human). Any person can dramatically change his heart rate through strong emotions and emotional recollections, and no physical activity.

So what are you actually disagreeing with? No one in good health can kill himself with just a thought.

of course this is possible, but the underlying reason to do so is not an active though - much more about the endocrine system and processing of emotions/memory of our brain. and even that has a limit which you cant go over or under.

I still don't see how this is possible. You say that it is "of course [] possible". Now, instead of providing proofs, you switch to saying that you didn't say what you had said? Why are you arguing? Just for the sake of expressing your feelings of disagreement?

Make up your mind finally whether it is possible for a human in good health to kill himself with a thought or not (just in case, I don't care which internal system actually kills him).

[criptix]

where did i said you need to be a monk to do that?
the monk was just a good example, because this people can take control over body functions - which you usually can't control - through meditation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumo

accelerating your heartbeat or increasing your body temperature through running fast, sports or freaking out is something completely different.                

I didn't mean running or any other physical activity (the example with cyclists was to show the physiological range which can be experienced by a human). Any person can dramatically change his heart rate through strong emotions and emotional recollections, and no physical activity.

So what are you actually disagreeing with? No one in good health can kill himself with just a thought.

my bad to not make clear what i was answering too, but i though you would understand from the context of the endocrine system and processing of memory or emotions in the human brain.

I already agreed in an earlier post that it is not possible to kill oneself with a though alone.

I disagreed to your point that some body functions are not able to be controlled with the mind.
the article that both you and i linked are agreeing with my standpoint.

Is something still not clear?

/edit

And about the part with proof. I linked an article that validated my argument which was even double verified through the article you linked.

[Bit_Happy]

I am currently taking health class and from my government required course the answer is yes.

You are currently taking health class and from your government required course 'propaganda' the answer is yes.

I just saw a PBS show about emotional health that claims "social connections" are required for happiness. Do you believe this is true?

Yes, though it's not a matter of belief, this is science. Human beings are primates, we are social creatures. We need strong social bonds for our health and happiness.

Related:

TED - Brene Brown: the power of vulnerability

TED - Christopher Ryan: Are we designed to be sexual omnivores?

http://bowlingalone.com/

These look really interesting, thanks.
I would have participated more in this thread, but I didn't feel the urgent need to be social. 

[Agestorzrxx]

I just saw a PBS show about emotional health that claims "social connections" are required for happiness. Do you believe this is true? ...or
Perhaps it is propaganda to undermine the happiness of independent people who don't always require the "emotional support" of others?

What do you think?
Is it true that strong "social connections" are required for happiness?

No, the  happiness is just decided by people themselves.
And family is more important than "social connections"

[ObscureBean]

Absolute independence/detachment is impossible, everyone relies on 'social connections' to some extent. While 'happiness' is possible with any configurations, 'strong social connections' is the easiest route to achieve it. So yeah a people person is more likely to be 'happy' than an introvert. I wouldn't use the word 'required' though.

[gentlemand]

I'd rather be alone than have the wrong social connections. These days I have far fewer than I once did, but they're the ones worth retaining. As you get older it dawns on you that healthy ones are one of the few things with true value.

There are cases of people living in Siberia for months on end without any human contact who seem quite content. They're rare cases and I don't think I could take it for more than a week or two.

As evidenced over and over again solitary confinement massively degrades mental health in most. There's a reason why it's classified as torture.

[worhiper_-_]

In my opinion if you have someone who is supporting you and you know that he/she is there for any problem   you will reach real happiness soon . But it depends from person to person , for example someone might not need anyone in his life , maybe beacause he has a dynamic pesonallity and he is able to deal with his/her problems on his/her own or maybe because he/she doesnt like people . However you dont need others only for their help at your problems , you need others to fullfil you , especially a certain person who is gonna change your life ...

[Beliathon]

http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-century-making-you-miserable.html