Loneliness Harm Health

Loneliness is a universal human emotion that is both complex and unique to each individual. Because it has no single common cause, the prevention and treatment of this potentially damaging state of mind can vary dramatically.

For example, a lonely child who struggles to make friends at his school has different needs than a lonely old man whose wife has recently died.

In order to understand loneliness, it's important to take a closer look at exactly what we mean by the term "lonely," as well as the various causes, health consequences, symptoms, and potential treatments for loneliness.

Loneliness is a significant public health concern among elders. In addition to easing a potential source of suffering, the identification and targeting of interventions for lonely elders may significantly decrease physician visits and health care costs.

Social relationships are integral to human well-being, and research consistently documents that social integration and support have protective effects on morbidity and mortality outcomes.

Loneliness and social isolation are often overlooked, despite being vital public health concerns, with mortality risk comparable to well-established risk factors such as cigarette smoking, drugs and drinks and even exceeding the influence of physical activity and obesity.

If you're lonely for a long time, it may to make it harder for your body to fight sickness. Part of the reason for this may be that loneliness triggers some of the hormones your body makes when you're under stress.

And that can dim how well your immune system works, too. Many other things also affect how well your body defends itself. Your doctor can help you pinpoint what changes might help.

Loneliness isn't simply about being alone -- some people are happy on their own.

And it’s not how many people you know or how often you see them, or a bad day when you don't feel connected. What matters is to have strong connections. Those who do tend to be happier, healthier, and more productive. Those who don’t may feel isolated, misunderstood, and depressed: lonely. It can take a physical toll, too. Conclusion researched by Dr. John Cacioppo, Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor and the founder and director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, co-founder of the field of social neuroscience, and one of the top loneliness experts in the U.S., loneliness is strongly connected to genetics. Other contributing factors include situational variables, such as physical isolation, moving to a new location.

Tips to Prevent Loneliness

Loneliness can be overcome. It does require a conscious effort on your part to make a change. Making a change, in the long run, can make you happier, healthier, and enable you to impact others around you in a positive way.

Here are some ways to prevent loneliness:

• Recognize that loneliness is a sign that something needs to change.
• Understand the effects that loneliness has on your life, both physically and mentally.
• Consider doing community service or another activity that you enjoy. These situations present great opportunities to meet people and cultivate new friendships and social interactions.
• Focus on developing quality relationships with people who share similar attitudes, interests, and values with you.
• Expect the best. Lonely people often expect rejection, so instead focus on positive thoughts and attitudes in your social relationships.

We are a social species. Our social networks (families, tribes, communities, etc.) enabled us to survive and thrive.

Our survival was served by the evolutionary development of behaviours and physiologic mechanisms (neural, hormonal, cellular, and genetic) that support social interactions (Cacioppo et al., 2011). But as with all human traits, there is variation in our social behaviours and needs.

The fact is, most of us are psychologically and biologically “programmed” to need social networks. It is logical that social isolation may impose stress on our minds and bodies that has a significant impact on health.

Disclaimer: The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional advice. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensue discussion or debate.    

Thank you …Not all people experience “aloneness” in the same way. Social scientists who study isolation and loneliness have attempted to define these terms in specific ways, since a person is considered socially isolated if they live alone, have less than monthly contact with friends or family, and don’t belong to a group (religious congregation, club, work or volunteer organization, etc.). 

Of course, some choose isolation as a preferred lifestyle. 

Want to add word or two?  

Several indicators of social isolation have been associated with poor health. There is a vast literature on this topic that is beyond the scope of this article, but several studies can help us better understand the relationships of social networks, perceived isolation, health, and mortality.

From a methodological perspective, these studies assume that health status contributes to one’s ability to be socially engaged.

Therefore, health status can contribute to loneliness and isolation, thereby creating a “cause and effect” dilemma when attempting to define the relationships between loneliness, social isolation, health, and mortality.

Your comment ….?

Many potential mechanisms have been proposed to account for the relationships between social integration, perceived social support, and health outcomes.

First of all, spending time with people who exhibit healthy habits may reinforce healthy behaviours, improve access to health-related information, better nutrition, more physical activity, transportation to health care providers, and even increase financial resources.

Of course, peer relationships can easily lead to unhealthful behaviours or interpersonal stress as well, but in the literature pertaining to older adults, the health-promoting benefits of social relationships seems to outweigh the negative effects. (Cornwell & Waite, 2009) But changing health behaviours is likely not the only mechanism by which social contacts protect health and well-being.

Loneliness is known to be a major risk factor for depression, which itself accelerates functional decline and increases mortality rate. (Mehta et al., 2002) Even sub-clinical depression may increase risk of all-cause mortality. (Culjpers & Smit, 2002), so depression may have contributed to the increased mortality and cardiovascular diseases found in the loneliness cohorts of those studies cited previously.

Depression may increase mortality and illness through several mechanisms.

Depression can increase platelet aggregation through diminished serotonin function and thereby increase risk for myocardial infarction and stroke. There may also be increased heart rate variability (unstable autonomic nervous system) and increased release of adrenaline, both leading to increased risk of cardiac arrhythmia (Seymour & Benning, 2009).

Whatever the mechanism, the effect of depression on mortality is significant in size. In a large cohort study (Cardiovascular Health Study), investigators found that depression increased mortality risk by 24% when they accounted for all important co-variables (Schultz et al., 2000).

Aging Life Care / care managers may be in a better position than any other member of the health care team both to recognize social isolation and to organize interventions.

Your ability to solve problems or remember things as you age is likely to be affected if you feel lonely.

And you may have a greater chance of a brain disease like Alzheimer's. Keep in mind that a lot of things affect those risks, and research doesn’t prove that loneliness causes these conditions. But at any age, finding ways to connect with others is wise.

Everyone is different. You may need more time on your own to recharge, compared with someone who’s more of an extrovert. That can be healthy and normal.

It’s only a problem if you feel too disconnected from other people. This can happen if you stay on your own too much.

But it can also happen if you simply don’t feel understood or cared for -- even if there are lots of people around.