Facebook and Cardiovascular Threats

A group of Italian scientists has proposed a hypothesis (or should I say theory) that Facebook (FB) could lead to asthma attacks.

Before you log off and close your FB account, it is important to know that the standard error associated with their data may be considered a crime in science. The conclusion was deducted from a study by the researchers on an 18-year old Italian man who was also an asthma patient. The boy has been dumped by his girlfriend and was therefore in a ‘broken heart’ state.

After the young lady separated from her boyfriend, she also removed him from her ‘friends list’ on Facebook

Still mad in love with the girl, the young man created another profile (a false ID) for himself in order to access his ex-girlfriend’s Facebook profile

And as you may agree, when it comes to matters of love, the heart is too delicate to play with. One day, when the young man entered his former girlfriend’s profile and saw her pictures, he experienced some breathlessness and collapsed. No one knew he was watching his former girlfriend’s pictures on FB

After this, the young man was asked to wear a mask to measure his breathing rate so they could monitor vital signs and take emergency action when necessary. Surprisingly, they discovered that whenever he went on Facebook, there was a 20%-30% reduction in heart rate. The heart rate and other vital statistics were restored to normal whenever the gentleman disconnected from FB.

The conclusion: According to one of the doctors Dr Gennaro D’Amato from Naples “Social networks in general can represent a new source of psychological stress and aggravate the condition of certain depressed asthmatics.

May be the only prescription this gentleman needed was simply to stay out of her profile. Have you heard the saying “Out of sight, out of mind”? and let me add “out of heart” too.

Share

By Kwabena A-Manager

Kwabena, is the founder of Give Back Africa Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to helping kids from underprivileged communities realize their potential. He is a scientist in Pharmaceutical Research & Development. To support his charity, please visit http://givebackafrica.org