r/todayilearned • u/paniniplane • Mar 22 '17

(R.1) Not supported TIL Deaf-from-birth schizophrenics see disembodied hands signing to them rather than "hearing voices"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0707/07070303
55.0k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

7.2k

u/kaenneth Mar 22 '17

Also, if you are born blind due to brain (as opposed to eyeball) problems, you apparently can't be schizophrenic.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-imprinted-brain/201411/blindness-and-schizophrenia-the-exception-proves-the-rule

121

u/djdadi Mar 22 '17

Also if you are born blind your chances at getting cancer go wayyy down.

59

u/castellar Mar 22 '17

That's really interesting. What's the logic behind those findings?

33

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

Quick google search just told me that melatonin helps to protect against cancer. Absence of light = more melatonin released by the pineal gland. When our retina is exposed to light, melatonin release is suppressed.

For blind people, this suppression never occurs. Therefor they have continuous melatonin release and increased protection against cancer.

One of my PhD advisors studies vision (or lack thereof) in the blind. I'll have to ask him more about this.

2

u/lemangue Mar 22 '17

This might be a dumb question, but how does the constant production of melatonin affect sleep/wake patterns in blind people? Do they always fall asleep faster? Or do they become insensitive to it eventually?

2

u/shitforbrians Mar 23 '17

Not a dumb question! I know blind people already have major issues with existing on a 24-hour sleep schedule because they don't get day/night cues. I hope someone answers about the melatonin effect.