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 There were some researchers that identified something they called the *Failure to Thrive syndrome*.

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This work was originally done with babies and toddlers at orphanages.

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And in these orphanages, the babies and toddlers were getting enough food,

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they were in a healthy environment and conditions;

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they weren't being exposed to disease or

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extreme cold or anything like that.

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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.

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And what they found was that a third of these babies would die.

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And of the two-thirds that did not die, a full third of those

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would have some kind of mental or physical problem moving forward in life.

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And the researchers were like: 'Why is this happening?

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It shouldn't be happening – it's healthy enough.

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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.

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In fact, there is an inverse relationship between

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high-quality social ties and chronic disease.

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If you don't have enough high-quality social ties,

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your chronic disease will increase.

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Chronic disease is things like heart problems,

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diabetes – that kind of thing.

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So, the most recent research coming out

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shows that the reason this is is because

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when we don't have enough *high-quality social interactions*,

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our *immune system starts to shut down*

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to the point where it can exacerbate chronic conditions we have.