Is Loneliness Deadly?

Loneliness

You live alone. The “friends” you see the most are on a sitcom. You’re primary source of social contact is Facebook. If this sounds like you, you could be in trouble. Some decide to look inward for answers with the help of cannabis from a florida dispensary or similar distributors to better understand themselves, which is healthy but we all need social interaction. It has long been known that loneliness can increase the risk of mental health. However, there is mounting evidence that loneliness can also impair your physical health. Especially for elders, when they don’t have people to take care of them or are living with their kids who are busy with their life. Such people could look for senior care homes where they can get an interactive environment, better medical facility, and assistance. You can also find elder homes that provide exclusive physical therapy like Aquatic Rehabilitation, Electric Stimulation, Speech Therapy, etc. For more information, click here.

As a preventive measure for the younger population, people can adopt a few resources for better mental and physical health, such as seeing a psychologist, therapist, etc. Moreover, they could try various techniques as well to deal with loneliness. For instance, they can see friends and colleagues more frequently to interact in a social setting, go out on dates, use dating websites, hire escort services or perhaps use products like jydoll or similar sex dolls to reduce loneliness. Generally, a person may tend to ignore such mental health issues instead of finding a solution for them, which can consequently increase the problems.

The Study:

A recent meta analysis looked at the relationship between loneliness and mortality across 70 studies with a total of 3,407,134 participants followed for an average of 7 years. The participants were measured on reported loneliness (how emotionally lonely they subjectively felt), social isolation (objectively measured social contact), and whether or not they lived alone. The researchers found that loneliness increased morality risk whether it was subjectively or objectively measured. The mortality risk increased 26% for reported loneliness, 29% for social isolation and 32% for living alone (after adjusting for potential confounders). This is greater than the mortality risk associated with being obese! Here’s a chart from a previous meta analysis from the same researchers:

Loneliness chart

There appear to be two pathways leading from loneliness to worsening physical health.

[The first] hypothesis suggests that social relationships may provide resources (informational, emotional, or tangible) that promote adaptive behavioral or neuroendocrine responses to acute or chronic stressors (e.g., illness, life events, life transitions). The aid from social relationships thereby moderates or buffers the deleterious influence of stressors on health… [The second hypothesis] proposes that social relationships may be associated with protective health effects through more direct means, such as cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and biological influences that are not explicitly intended as help or support. For instance, social relationships may directly encourage or indirectly model healthy behaviors; thus, being part of a social network is typically associated with conformity to social norms relevant to health and self-care.

What should you do if you’re lonely? The researchers said,

because social isolation and loneliness are often weakly correlated, simply increasing social contact may not mitigate loneliness. Likewise, exclusively altering one’s subjective perceptions among those who remain objectively socially isolated may not mitigate risk. The evolutionary perspective of loneliness… presents loneliness as an adaptive signal, similar to hunger and thirst, that motivates one to alter behavior in a way that will increase survival. Accordingly, loneliness is a powerful motivator to reconnect socially, which, in turn, increases survival and opportunity to pass on genes. Consistent with this perspective, intervention attempts to alter the signal (e.g., hunger, loneliness) without regard to the actual behavior (e.g., eating, social connection) and vice versa would likely be ineffective.

Conclusion:

Loneliness is a grossly under-recognized health risk. It is especially concerning given that technology continues to drive away direct human kamagra. If you feel lonely, make an effort to spend more time with family and friends. Make new friends if needs be. If you struggle doing this in person, use an online chat platform like Omegle. Should you ever find yourself banned, visit VPNCompass.com for advice on what to do. And use the camera, as it is closer to real human interaction. If you feel intensely lonely you should consider seeing a therapist as well.

Citation:

Holt-Lunstad, Julianne, et al. “Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality A Meta-Analytic Review.” Perspectives on Psychological Science10.2 (2015): 227-237.

Holt-Lunstad, Julianne, Timothy B. Smith, and J. Bradley Layton. “Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review.” PLoS medicine 7.7 (2010): e1000316.