Loneliness can lead to various psychiatric disorders like depression, alcohol abuse, child abuse, sleep problems, personality disorders and Alzheimer's disease.
Long term feelings of loneliness and social isolation can also reduce cognitive skills, such as the ability to concentrate, make decisions, problem-solve, and even change negative self-beliefs. And it can ultimately lead to depression.
"Loneliness can change the neurochemistry of the brain, turning off the dopamine neurons, which trigger the reward response, and causing some degeneration in the brain when the reward response is not activated," says Katherine Peters, MD, PhD, FAAN, associate professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Duke University.
When someone feels lonely they are more likely to try to distract themselves with the other things in their lives. So if your colleague is always talking about their stamp collection, or always flying away on exotic solo city breaks rather than spending weekends at home, they might be feeling alone.
What happens to your body when you're lonely? “When you're experiencing loneliness, your levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, go up,” she says. “Cortisol can impair cognitive performance, compromise the immune system, and increase your risk for vascular problems, inflammation and heart disease.”
When a feeling of being alone and disconnected persists for extended periods of time (often despite actually surrounding yourself with other humans), quality, rejuvenating alone time transitions into crippling loneliness.
“The worst kind of loneliness in the world is isolation that comes from being misunderstood. It can make people lose their grasp on reality.”
Feeling lonely isn't a mental health problem, but having a mental health problem can increase feelings of loneliness. For example, if you're struggling with your mental health, you may: Avoid social events and activities you usually enjoy.
Biologists have shown that feelings of loneliness trigger the release of stress hormones that in turn are associated with higher blood pressure, decreased resistance to infection and increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
A brain imaging study showed that feeling ostracized actually activates our neural pain matrix. In fact, several studies show that ostracizing others hurts us as much as being ostracized ourselves. We can hypothesize that, similarly, loneliness is associated with the pain matrix.
There are different types of loneliness: emotional, and social and existential loneliness.
The Emotional Impact of Loneliness
On the emotional side the perception that social support is inadequate is associated with depression, which, if severe and untreated, is associated with increasing disability, loss of weight, disturbed sleep and thoughts of suicide or actual suicide.
There is early evidence that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness and positive psychology can reduce loneliness in later life. These three approaches share key principles. They identify the automatic negative thoughts and feelings which can become overwhelming over time and influence behavior.
What causes loneliness? There is not one single cause of loneliness. Loneliness can often be a result of life changes or circumstances that include living alone, changing your living arrangements, having financial problems, or death of a loved one.
Stage 4: Depression. The despair of loneliness is an all-encompassing emotion.
The best way to conquer loneliness is by connecting with other people. Take time to nurture friendships or cultivate new ones. Friendships are special relationships that give you the socialization you need without worrying about the complexities that dating has.
On the general scale, women have reported having higher levels of loneliness than men. Except for one category: single men are the lonelier group compared to single women. Women are more socially minded and are therefore able to better maintain close relationships than men.
Loneliness can affect your health in lots of ways. You may not be able to get out to buy healthy foods - or you may not have the motivation to cook for one. And not getting enough mental stimulation increases the chance of depression and dementia.
Your nervous system goes into fight-or-flight mode, making it harder to sleep. When you're lonely, research shows that your brain can produce an excess of norepinephrine, a hormone that's a crucial “signal during the fight or flight response.” Loneliness can feel, to our social selves, like dire straits.
Being alone can break your heart—literally. People who lack a strong network of friends and family are at greater risk of developing—and dying from—heart disease, research shows. According to some studies, the risk of solitude is comparable to that posed by high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and even smoking.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Widespread loneliness in the U.S. poses health risks as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions of dollars annually, the U.S. surgeon general said Tuesday in declaring the latest public health epidemic.