We're learning more about how social isolation damages your brain and body — here are the biggest effects Hilary Brueck Jul. 3, 2018, 5:09 AM
Social isolation, which happens when a person has little or no contact with others, is a dangerous condition.
The form of extreme self-exile has been linked to a host of debilitating health problems, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking.
New research suggests social isolation can make heart failure patients three and a half times more likely to die than their well-connected peers.
There's growing evidence that a simple, intuitive way to combat social isolation could also make just about anyone happier.
Going without human contact for too long can literally break your heart.
That's according to a new study of social isolation published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in May, which tracked more than 1,600 people living with heart failure.
We've known for a while that being alone is a deadly dangerous condition. Other scholars have estimated that regardless of your heart health, social isolation can increase risk of death anywhere from 50-90%. Being socially disconnected can also up your risk of developing high blood pressure or inflammation, and make people more aggressive.
But for the new study, researchers looked at a group of patients from rural parts of Minnesota, all dealing with heart failure. They found that those Minnesotans who described their lives as highly socially isolated, seeing virtually no one else on a daily basis, were three and a half times more likely to die than people who were suffering from some of the exact same heart problems, but who reported having enough social support and connections to others.
"It's becoming increasingly clear that socially isolated people face serious health risks," NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg, who was not affiliated with the new study, told Business Insider.
"We need to take their situation seriously," he said, though he cautioned there's no evidence yet that the sheer volume of socially isolated people in the US is going up.
"Americans are just about as isolated as we've always been," he said.
His own research suggests that in the US, elderly people and adult men are the two most at-risk populations for social isolation, in part, because they tend to have smaller social networks to begin with.
In addition to being more at-risk physically, there's also budding evidence that socially isolated people are changing their brain chemistry in dangerous ways. One recent study in mice found that just two weeks of "social isolation stress" caused negative behavioral changes and shifts in their brain chemistry. The finding hasn't been replicated in humans yet, but it made the mouse-studying scientists wonder if they might be able to some day use drugs to help human patients cope with the mental aspects of social isolation, and decrease their isolation-fueled aggression chemically.
Loneliness is not the same as social isolation, but it's dangerous too
Being alone (social isolation) and feeling alone (loneliness) are not the same issue. Besides, generally speaking, people who live alone, whether they be 20 years old or 80, tend to have more social connections with others, not less, as Klinenberg has reported in the past. Loneliness isn't about how physically close we are to other people, and a person can be surrounded by others, and still feel completely alone in the world; that's loneliness at work. Like social isolation, long-term feelings of this emotional going-it-alone can make people more likely to die an early death, and research suggests the risks are on par with smoking.
statements like "I feel left out," and "I feel that people are around me, but not with me."
Coping with loneliness and social isolation
Klinenberg says it's important to remember that not all these feelings of loneliness are necessarily bad. Unlike a chemically-disturbed state of social isolation, or a debilitating loneliness that can last for weeks on end, a short bout of temporary loneliness won't kill you. In fact, he says it "can be a productive and healthy thing." "It's your body's signal that you need to get off your couch and get into the world and try to build better, more meaningful social ties," he said.
That's isolation-busting advice more scientists are getting behind.
In May a group of German researchers revealed that connecting more with others can boost how people rate their own satisfaction with life. In a study, people who spent a year making a renewed effort to help others, or spent more time with
friends and family, were the only participants who measurably increased how they rated their own life satisfaction.
Other participants who focused on more self-centered life-improvement hacks, like quitting their own bad habits, showed no major change in how happy they rated their lives after a year, suggesting that adding in more time with others might be a kind of secret sauce for improving happiness.
To break out of social isolation, you have to be healthy enough to get out more in the first place — a tricky paradox for patients dealing with conditions like heart failure. Researchers in the new study suggest doctors can also be first responders in the fight against social isolation, looking for tell-tale signs by reaching out and asking a few simple questions of patients when they visit
Loneliness Rivals Obesity, Smoking as Health Risk By Nick Tate
May 4, 2018 -- “The social media paradox”: Pop psychologists have coined the term to describe how social media have allowed us to become more connected to other people than at any time in history -- and yet many Americans report feeling more lonely and isolated than ever before.
A new study out this month has thrown a spotlight on the emerging public health issue, suggesting Facebook and other Web-based communities -- as well as other things in modern life -- are boosting levels of loneliness that are undermining the nation’s mental and physical health.
Loneliness has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it even more dangerous than obesity.
The survey, conducted by the health insurer Cigna, found widespread loneliness, with nearly half of Americans reporting they feel alone, isolated, or left out at least some of the time. The nation’s 75 million millennials (ages 23-37) and Generation Z adults (18-22) are lonelier than any other U.S. demographic and report being in worse health than older generations.
In addition, 54% of respondents said they feel no one knows them well, and four in 10 reported they "lack companionship," their "relationships aren't meaningful" and they "are isolated from others."
Douglas Nemecek, MD, Cigna’s chief medical officer for behavioral health, said the findings of the study suggest that the problem has reached “epidemic”
proportions, rivaling the risks posed by tobacco and the nation’s ever-expanding waistline.
A Growing Threat?
Nemecek’s comments echo those of other prominent public health specialists, including former Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, MD, who say loneliness should be targeted in public health campaigns like those designed to combat smoking, boost immunizations, combat obesity, and prevent the spread of the AIDS virus.
“During my years caring for patients, the most common pathology I saw was not heart disease or diabetes; it was loneliness,” Murthy said in a recent cover story in the Harvard Business Review.
“Loneliness is a growing health epidemic. We live in the most technologically connected age in the history of civilization, yet rates of loneliness have doubled since the 1980s.”
The new report, produced in partnership with the Ipsos polling company, is based on an online survey of more than 20,000 U.S. adults using the well-regarded UCLA Loneliness Scale to see how widespread loneliness is in America. Among other findings:
• Nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feeling alone (46%) or left out (47%).
• Widespread social media use among younger adults contributes to loneliness, but it's not the only reason.
• Loneliness is being fueled by a variety of things, including work demands, improper sleep schedules, not spending enough quality time with family or socializing with friends, and a lack of "me time."
Mental health experts say the Cigna study is only the latest in a series to document rising levels of loneliness and related public health effects.
Recent research has shown that people who are lonely and isolated are more likely to have heart disease and stroke, get immune system problems, and may even have a harder time recovering from cancer.
It’s also clear that loneliness is closely linked to depression and may lead to an early death.
Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, a psychologist at Brigham Young University who studies loneliness and its health effects, has found loneliness makes premature death more likely for people of all ages.
In 2017, she presented new research linking loneliness and social isolation to a number of health risks at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention.
Her paper cited data from two analyses. The first tracked 148 studies, involving more 300,000 participants, and found that greater social connection is associated with 50% lower odds of early death. The second, involving 70 studies representing more than 3.4 million people, found that social isolation, loneliness, or living alone boosted the chance of premature death at least as much as obesity.
“There is robust evidence that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality, and the magnitude of the risk exceeds that of many leading health indicators,” Holt-Lunstad wrote. “With an increasing aging
population, the effect on public health is only anticipated to increase.”
Greater social connection is associated with 50% lower odds of early death.
She said 42.6 million Americans over age 45 have chronic loneliness, according to the AARP’s Loneliness Study. Specifically, the AARP study found that loneliness was good at predicting poor health, with those who rated their health as “excellent” about half as likely to be lonely as those who rated their health as “poor” (25% vs. 55%).
The issue is gaining more attention as a serious public health concern. Earlier this year, British Prime Minister Theresa May went so far as to appoint a national
minister for loneliness. How to Feel Less Lonely
Arthur H. Brand, PhD, a licensed psychologist in Boca Raton, FL, said he is seeing the trend in his practice. Loneliness is not a clinical disorder, and it is different from more serious feelings of isolation and alienation, but it can be a sign of deeper psychological issues, he says.
“Loneliness is a feeling that may be transient,” he said. “Isolation/alienation is more of a condition that may be the result of chronic loneliness; withdrawal from relationships that can be self-imposed; and/or the result of rejection/shunning by others.”
So, what can be done to combat loneliness and social isolation?
Brand said face-to-face connection with others is the best remedy --through support groups, civic activities, adult education classes, social groups,
volunteering, faith-based activities, political activism, book clubs, travel clubs, and even dating websites. All can all be useful ways to combat loneliness and
isolation.
Joseph Burgo, PhD, a clinical psychologist and the author of the blog "After
Psychotherapy," says people have a basic need to feel a sense of “belonging.” But engaging with others through social media can undermine those feelings.
“Social media sharing focuses almost entirely on the best [experiences], with everyone trying to look like a social media ‘winner.’ Seeing all those fabulous parties, vacations, meals, etc. enjoyed by our ‘friends’ can make us feel terribly lonely,” he says.
connect with other people, not as a passive activity -- scrolling through feeds and posts by others.
The survey offers other tips to feel less lonely:
Reach balance: Getting the right amount of sleep, work, socializing with friends, family time, and “me time” is connected to lower loneliness scores.
Sleep: People who say they sleep just the right amount have lower loneliness scores.
Family time: People who report spending too much time with family are more likely to say that they feel as though they are part of a group of friends and they can find companionship when they need it.
Exercise: People who say they get just the right amount of exercise are less likely to be lonely.
Work: People who say they work just the right amount are least likely to be lonely.
