Bullying Could Possibly Lead to Cancer Later in Life

Bullying hurts enough when it's happening.  But a new study has found that its effects last well into adulthood.

 According to newswise.com, bullying may have long-term health consequences.

 Bullied children may experience chronic, systemic inflammation that persists into adulthood, while bullies may actually reap health benefits of increasing their social status through bullying, according to researchers at Duke Medicine.

 How depressing is that.  
“Our findings look at the biological consequences of bullying, and by studying a marker of inflammation, provide a potential mechanism for how this social interaction can affect later health functioning,” the Web site quotes William E. Copeland, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and the study’s lead author.
Is it all in the head?  Researchers think not. Earlier studies have suggested that victims of childhood bullying suffer social and emotional consequences into adulthood, including increases in anxiety and depression. Yet, bullied children also report health problems, such as pain and illness susceptibility, which may extend beyond psychological outcomes.
“Among victims of bullying, there seems to be some impact on health status in adulthood,” Copeland said at newswise.com. “In this study, we asked whether childhood bullying can get ‘under the skin’ to affect physical health.”
Three groups of participants were analyzed: victims of bullying, those who were both bullies and victims, and those who were purely bullies. Although certain blood levels rose for all groups as they entered adulthood, victims of childhood bullying had much higher levels as adults than the other groups. In fact, the levels increased with the number of times the individuals were bullied.
For the young adults who, as kids had both been bullies and victims as children, levels were similar to those not involved in bullying, while bullies had the lowest levels – even lower than those uninvolved in bullying. "Thus, being a bully and enhancing one’s social status through this interaction may protect against increases in the inflammatory marker," the Web site reports.
While bullying is more common and perceived as less harmful than childhood abuse or maltreatment, the findings suggest that bullying can disrupt levels of inflammation into adulthood, similar to what is seen in other forms of childhood trauma.
So why should we worry about inflammation?  Doesn't it just go away eventually?  Scientists are now finding that inflammation is very much linked to cancer.  
Our body’s immune system forms a defensive shield, and one of its most powerful weapons is inflammation, a carefully engineered process designed to eliminate enemies such as bacteria, injured cells and chemical irritants. Without it, we probably wouldn’t survive beyond infancy.

"But inflammation has a split personality – one that can wreak havoc on those unfortunate enough to experience it. And we now know that inflammation’s dark side is a powerful force in cancer development, where it aids and abets tumor growth and spread around the body," notes scienceblog.com.cancerresearchuk.com.
So don't think that bullying ends in childhood for the victim, another reason why it's even more important to do what we can to try to stomp it out now.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Herbal Supplements? Even Green Tea Extract Can Lead to Liver Damage

Take herbal supplements? You might want to listen up. A new study is warning that new information is showing that some supplements may damage the liver, along with over the counter drugs and even those prescribed by physicians, according to newswise.com. The rate of drug-induced liver injury (DILI), a rare adverse drug reaction which is challenging to diagnose -- and which can lead to jaundice, liver failure and even death -- is increasing more and more.  Experts put it down to the overwhelming use of herbal supplements and other drugs in the last 10 years.  “A lot of consumers have a preconceived notion that if it’s a natural product, it must be safe. But that is not necessarily the case,” the Web site quotes Herbert Bonkovsky, MD, FACG, co-author of the guidelines. “Most of these products are not well-regulated and have very little oversight. Traces of heavy metals and prescription drugs have even been found in some herbal and dietary supplements. We encourage patients to
Read more

Social Media Replacing Human Contact? Nah

I used to think my son only talked to his "girlfriend" (did I mention he'll be 12 in June?) in school.  Then I happened to walk by his computer and saw her on his screen.  They Skype.  About three hours a day.  Then I got it.  It's real.  Kids mostly communicate electronically these days. But Joe McKendrick at smartplanet.com believes there are reasons social media won't completely replace face-to-face interactions.  For one, there's less distraction.  If you're sitting at your computer, you're scanning for emails or googling or watching the news, in addition to talking to someone.  When you're actually with someone, it's harder to do this -- though, Joe, are you living on Mars? Have you never seen a teen texting at the table, while talking to you, or God forbid, driving? Most of McKendrick's points have to do with the office, and meeting in person to do business rather than connecting online.  I have to admit here, it makes sense.  He
Read more

Be Humble. Your Employees May Work Harder

You wouldn't know it from our current crook- er - commander-in-chief but it pays to be humble , new research is showing. It’s good to be humble when you’re the boss – as long as that’s what your employees expect, according to newswise.com. Researchers studying workplaces in China found that some real-life teams showed more creativity if the employees rated their bosses as showing more humility. “Whether leader humility is a good thing really depends on the team members’ expectations,” says  Jia (Jasmine) Hu , lead author of the study and associate professor of  management and human resources  at The Ohio State University’s  Fisher College of Business . Humble leaders are most effective when team members expect a low degree of distance between the leaders and followers, Hu explains. When there is "low power distance" (I assume, this means when the boss is humble), employees share power with their boss in a collaborative way. But humility may be seen as a weaknes
Read more