Researchers say loneliness is linked to physical health problems in the short term

Loneliness can be detrimental to our everyday health, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State College of Health and Human Development and Center for Healthy Aging, aimed at understanding the subtleties of loneliness and how variations in daily feelings of loneliness affects short-term feelings. and long-term well-being. The researchers said the work provides more evidence to support the 2023 statement from US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy about the devastating impact of loneliness and isolation on physical health in the country, calling it a public health crisis.

The work, published in the magazine Health psychology, also draws more attention to different experiences of loneliness, a focus during Loneliness Awareness Week from June 10 to 16.

The long-term health consequences of loneliness and insufficient social connection include a 29% increased risk of heart disease, a 32% increased risk of stroke and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia in older adults, the surgeon general said. People who often feel lonely are also more likely to develop depression and other mental health problems, compared to people who rarely or never feel lonely.

In the current study, the researchers found that loneliness can lead to negative health symptoms for people, even if they do not generally identify as lonely or typically experience loneliness. People who experience more temporary feelings of loneliness or have a lot of variability in their feelings of loneliness are likely to have daily health problems related to loneliness, including general fatigue, headaches and nausea.

The data represents 1,538 participants in the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE), one of the surveys in the MacArthur Foundation Survey of Midlife in the United States. NSDE is led by David Almeida, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State and senior author of the paper. The current study focuses on loneliness in midlife, using data from respondents between the ages of 35 and 65. Previous research on loneliness has largely focused on adolescents and older adults, the researchers said.

NSDE participants took part in telephone interviews for eight consecutive days in which their daily stress and mood were assessed. Respondents were asked to describe every stressful and/or positive situation they encountered and their feelings about each day, including whether they felt lonely and how often. They were also asked whether they had any physical complaints that day, including general fatigue or headache. These assessments were conducted twice, ten years apart.

From this data, researchers found that when participants were less lonely on average, and on days when loneliness was lower than a person’s average, they had fewer and less severe physical health complaints. Additionally, participants who were more stable in solitude over the eight days had less severe physical health symptoms.

“These findings suggest that the daily dynamics of loneliness may be crucial for understanding and addressing the health effects of loneliness,” Almeida said. “Increasing feelings of social connection, even for one day, could result in fewer health complaints that day. Such a daily focus offers a manageable and hopeful micro-intervention for people living with loneliness.”

Dakota Witzel, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Healthy Aging and lead author of the paper, said the results suggest more attention should be paid to everyday, more temporary feelings of loneliness. While persistent loneliness may contribute to the long-term health effects identified in the surgeon general’s advisory, these shorter, more variable instances of loneliness may cause shorter-term negative health symptoms.

“A lot of research focuses on loneliness being a binary trait: you’re either lonely or you’re not. But based on our own anecdotal lives, we know this isn’t the case. Some days are worse than others – even some hours. ” Witzel said. “If we can understand variations in daily loneliness, we can begin to understand how it affects our daily and long-term health.”

Karina Van Bogart, PhD candidate in Penn State’s Department of Biobehavioral Health; Erin Harrington, assistant professor of cognition and cognitive development at the University of Wyoming; and Shelbie Turner, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, also contributed to this study.