Your Brain On... Friendship

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About this episode

We're more connected than ever, yet, we've never been lonelier. We sit down with neuroscientist Dr. Ben Rein, author of Why Brains Need Friends, to look at what isolation does to the brain and body, why we badly underestimate our own social skills, and how to build real connection back into ordinary life. The conversation opens 45,000 years ago, with a healed bone that points to one of the earliest signs of human caregiving. From there it moves to the present: why "rejection hurts because it used to kill," how chronic loneliness raises cortisol and inflammation, and why regular social connection lowers the risk of dementia, heart disease, diabetes, anxiety, and depression. In this episode:…