How Being Sick Changes Your Brain

When you’re sick you just want to be left alone. Sometimes that’s because you physically can’t move, but other times, it might have more to do with the way your immune system is connected to your brain.

Hosted by: Hank Green
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[ozzi]

I've actually found that a day or two before I get sick, I become more withdrawn and quiet. It's so consistent that I can plan around my own future sickness most of the time, which is really weird

[SayHelloHelli]

I wonder how this relates to people with chronic illness.

[davidbuschhorn]

Imagine a disease that makes you feel *_AMAZING_* and healthy, invigorated and happy?

[xwyhpyj]

This channel is actually quite nice, as not only are the sources cited, but they are also properly analyzed.

[LaurenFairwx]

Interesting! My depression gets reeeeally bad when I'm sick. Like, I forget what it's like to be able to breathe even though it's just gone in a few days and I get so sad about it. I spent like one day this week totally convinced that I would never feel normal and comfortable again and I know that's completely irrational. It was just a super stuffy nose. It makes a lot of sense that the brain is hanging out away from the germs and trying to match mood and behavior to whatever it needs to get better.

[sacrilegiousboi]

One of my friends is a very laidback, happy, optimistic and extroverted person and we often know when he’s about to be sick with a flu or cold even before the acute symptoms because he will suddenly act uncharacteristically withdrawn, irritable, melancholic and anxious (sometimes he will get intrusive thoughts) a few days before the sore throat/cough starts to kick in. He becomes a depressed, introverted and anxious person before and during illness and bounces back to his normal happy outgoing self afterwards.

[cherrybomb]

Im a cancer survivor my first cancer symptom was massive aniexty that I never had in my whole life I became antisocial . After my cancer was treated my aniexty went down 80 percent. Its only been 2 years but exspect ill be fine in time .

[juliamelone]

Hank is my favorite host, he speaks very well

[theincarnationofboredom]

"while you're sick is a good time to learn things about your mind"
Mate, that's what I'm doing with watching these videos.

[Master_Therion]

Wait, Vaccine Shots make you more social? I'll remember that next time I go to the bar. Shots! Shots! Shots!

[feynstein]

I just caught a cold yesterday. Damn SciShow you spying on me?

[chibillama]

This really makes sense with the observations I've been making recently. My dad stays very isolated, barely ever leaving his room, however he still gets sick more often than my sister who often volunteers and is around other people being extroverted. I also have a friend whose son is autistic and he has many health problems including catching colds very often. I never thought about how these could be connected before

[RatzBuddie]

Gotta love SciShow's favorite phrase: 'More research is needed'

[ShadowCG]

this is such a cool topic. I can't wait to see more research on this topic, the findings could be used to help so many people.

[MrPitterPatter]

Watching this while dealing with a cold. Good timing SciShow.

[jpn_]

I had chronic insomnia all my life and never thought it would go away, had to take heavy prescription meds to fall asleep, and i was getting worried as my body would keep building a tolerance to my meds and i'd need to switch so i was running out of options, but weirdly after i got very sick with pneumonia and almost died my insomnia went away! Now i get sleepy at a normal time and can fall asleep properly and stay asleep, not sure what happened but im greatful.

[XxFreakoxX]

Something that I had heard once that has always stuck with me is "it is better to eat twinkies with good friends then to eat broccoli alone" in other words you can eat all the healthy food you want but if you dont have a good social group your immune system actually suffers. The speaker talked about the experiment of a large group of people- all exposed to the same common cold yet those who ate like garbage but had a great social connection got over their cold way faster then those who ate healthy food but had no social connection. So human connection is an amazing thing. ^_^

[libbybollinger]

Weird how this comes out just after I'm getting over a giant cold

[lauragiles]

Watching this with my freshers flu, good timing Hank!

[_chpset]

Could it not also be that outgoing, social people are exposed to more diseases so they naturally tend to have stronger immune responses due to exposure and not a genetic predisposition?