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There were some researchers that identified something they called the *Failure to Thrive syndrome*.
This work was originally done with babies and toddlers at orphanages.
And in these orphanages, the babies and toddlers were getting enough food,
they were in a healthy environment and conditions;
they weren't being exposed to disease or
extreme cold or anything like that.
But what they *didn't* have was any consistent social interactions,

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either with the other babies and children or with a consistent caregiver.
And what they found was that a third of these babies would die.
And of the two-thirds that did not die, a full third of those
would have some kind of mental or physical problem moving forward in life.
And the researchers were like: 'Why is this happening?
It shouldn't be happening – it's healthy enough.
The only thing that's lacking is this consistent social interaction.'

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And research since then has shown that this is *not just* babies and toddlers.
In fact, there is an inverse relationship between
high-quality social ties and chronic disease.
If you don't have enough high-quality social ties,
your chronic disease will increase.
Chronic disease is things like heart problems,
diabetes – that kind of thing.
So, the most recent research coming out
shows that the reason this is is because

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when we don't have enough *high-quality social interactions*,
our *immune system starts to shut down*
to the point where it can exacerbate chronic conditions we have.