12 Quotes by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

The two researchers collaborated on a pilot study.32 What they found was that loneliness reprogrammed a person’s genes in the same way that fear of being outed altered the genes of closeted men. Loneliness changes the immune system. Specifically, feeling isolated turns on genes for inflammation – which are the first responders to tissue damage or bacterial threats – and it puts the brakes on genes that stop inflammation.

In fact, people with little purpose were two and a half times more likely to develop dementia than those with a mission.

Carlo Strenger believes that for most people, changing course in midlife is not a luxury but an “existential necessity.