The Desperate Price of Loneliness

Though our need to connect is innate, many of us frequently feel alone. Loneliness is the state of distress or discomfort that results when one perceives a gap between one’s desires for social connection and actual experiences of it.

Even some people who are surrounded by others throughout the day (or even in a long-lasting marriage) still experience deep and pervasive loneliness. Research suggests that it poses serious threats to well-being and long-term physical health. Whether a person lives in isolation or not, feeling a lack of social connectedness can be painful. Marriage can be the loneliest place in the world.

Given the potential health consequences for those who feel like they have few or no supportive social connections, widespread loneliness poses a major societal problem. Given the potential health consequences for those who feel like they have few or no supportive social connections, widespread loneliness poses a major societal challenge. But it underscores a demand for increased outreach and connection on a personal level, too.

There’s evidence that lonely individuals have a sort of negativity bias in evaluating social interactions. Lonely people notice signs of potential rejection more quickly than do others, perhaps better to avoid it and protect themselves. People who feel lonely need to be aware of this bias so they can overcome it before seeking out companionship.

Solitude, or time spent alone, is not inherently negative and can even be restorative or advantageous in other ways. Research suggests the reasons young people choose to be alone matter – they may do so to relax, create, or reflect, rather than to avoid other people.

Loneliness researcher John Cacioppo argues that just as you can start an exercise regimen to gain strength and improve your health, you can combat loneliness through small moves that build emotional strength and resilience. He has devised techniques for people at particularly high risk for chronic loneliness, such as soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. They may be useful to anyone.

Several unfavorable outcomes have been linked to loneliness. In addition to its association with depressive symptoms and other forms of mental illness, loneliness is a risk factor for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and arthritis, among other diseases.

Lonely people are also twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, research suggests. The state of chronic loneliness may trigger adverse physiological responses such as the increased production of stress hormones, hinder sleep, and result in weakened immunity.

While a person can’t die simply from feeling too lonely, findings that lonely people have higher rates of mortality and certain diseases support the idea that, over time, chronic loneliness can play a role in increasing the risk of dying.

Feelings of loneliness and isolation affect people of all ages, although adolescents and the elderly may be especially likely to be impacted. About forty percent of Americans reported regularly feeling lonely in 2010, and other reports affirm that it is common for people to feel lonely at least some of the time. The high rates of reported loneliness have led some to declare an “epidemic,” though it is not clear that loneliness is increasing in younger generations.

Tune in and learn how to win the battle of loneliness!