We all feel lonely from time to time. While this is a difficult and unpleasant feeling, in terms of consequences, it doesn’t even come close to chronic loneliness, a problem that more and more people on the planet are facing.
Chronic loneliness is not “friends and communication are not enough”. Many sufferers have many friends, many social connections and contacts, and even a large family. It is an internal feeling of disconnection from other people, a feeling of incomprehensibility and global abandonment, which external circumstances cannot influence.
It has long been known that chronic loneliness is detrimental to mental health by increasing the risk of depression and anxiety. However, recent research shows that loneliness is no less damaging to physical health, reducing life expectancy and increasing the risk of serious illness.
1. Ages faster than smoking
If you are unhappy and alone, you will biologically age faster than heavy smokers. This is warned by researchers from the United States and China, whose article was recently published published In the magazine Aging – USA.
The constant negative emotions that accompany loneliness – sadness, despair, depression – accelerate the biological clock that counts the days of our life. These emotions add an extra year and eight months to our chronological age, five months longer than smoking. Experts suggest that this is the result of chronic stress and inflammation that damages vital cells and organs.
2. Increases the risk of dementia by 40%
Florida State University (USA) researchers, whose paper in 2020 it was published in Journal of gerontology, analyzed the data of more than 12 thousand people, which were monitored over ten years. Study participants, among other information about themselves, reported how lonely they felt. Every two years, these people were tested for cognitive abilities.
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When the scientists summarized the findings, chronic loneliness was found to be associated with a 40% increase in the risk of dementia. Researchers suggest that depression, poor cardiovascular health, and lack of physical activity may be behind this association. All three of these factors have previously been shown to increase the risk of dementia.
Additionally, chronic stress caused by loneliness contributes, as the stress hormone cortisol negatively affects the hippocampus, the region of the brain responsible for memory.
3. Double the risk of type 2 diabetes
Such a discovery was made by scientists of the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, whose article published In the magazine Diabetology. They analyzed data on over 24,000 Norwegians who twice (in 1995-1997 and 2017-2019) answered questions about their psychological state. Specifically, the participants were asked to rate the level of loneliness they had experienced in the past two weeks.
In 20 years of follow-up, nearly 5% of participants developed type 2 diabetes.
Analysis of the data showed that loneliness is directly related to an increased risk of diabetes.
Participants who experienced severe loneliness were twice as likely to develop the disease as those who did not suffer from loneliness.
4. Increases the risk of heart attack and stroke by a third
A team of scientists from the University of York (UK), whose paper in 2016 it was published In the magazine Heart, analyzed data from 23 studies. The studies were conducted in developed countries around the world and are dedicated to studying the links between loneliness and the risk of cardiovascular problems.
Loneliness was found to increase the risk of coronary heart disease by 29% and the risk of stroke by 32%. As in the case of other diseases, scientists attribute this effect to chronic stress, which has a destructive effect on the body.
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