Researchers Say This Common Feeling Is More Dangerous Than Smoking 15 Cigarettes a Day

You've probably experienced loneliness at some point: after a breakup, when you move to a new city. But did you know it poses serious health risks?


Researchers have confirmed that loneliness can be a deadly affliction — as lethal as diabetes or smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

“We need to start taking our social relationships more seriously,” Julianne Holt-Lunstad, the author of a Brigham Young University study on loneliness, said in a statement. “The effect of this is comparable to obesity, something that public health takes very seriously.”

The world is in the throes of an invisible loneliness epidemic, with 60 million sufferers in America alone.

Here are some of the health hazards associated with loneliness.

Loneliness can cause so many health issues, some experts believe it should be treated as a chronic illness.

Inflammation

Lonely people generate more inflammation-related proteins in stressful situations than socially connected people, according to a study by Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Inflammation can lead to other health problems, including Type 2 diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression.

Inflammation may also go hand in hand with impaired immune function, which the study found to be another side effect of loneliness.

"Both, in different ways, indicate that the immune system is a little out of whack," study researcher Lisa Jaremka, a postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State, told LiveScience.

Heart problems

Loneliness can literally break your heart, researchers at the University of York found. The stress and fear associated with being alone can trigger an inflammatory response in your body, which is a major risk factor for heart disease. Socially isolated or lonely people are 29 percent more likely to have heart disease and 32 percent more likely to have a stroke, according to the study.

Dementia

Sufferers of loneliness are at a 64 percent greater risk of dementia later in life, according to a Dutch study in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.

The increased risk hinges on feelings of loneliness and is not correlated simply with living alone. "Interestingly, the fact that 'feeling lonely' rather than 'being alone' was associated with dementia onset suggests that it is not the objective situation but, rather, the perceived absence of social attachments that increases the risk of cognitive decline," the study authors told The Guardian.

Obesity

Because inactivity tends to be a staple of loneliness, the feeling is associated with obesity, which is linked to diabetes and other serious health conditions.

Premature death

Being socially isolated renders you 30 percent more likely to suffer a premature death than your socially involved counterparts, the study by Brigham Young University showed. And you don't need to only feel lonely for this bear out. A study author told CNN that being alone and feeling alone should both be taken seriously.

And because inflammation can trigger depression, there's also an increased risk of suicide.
Why are people so lonely?

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Neteller here: www..com.ng

Nice.

One can be alone and not be lonely.


Except a person want to be deliberately lonely, there are so many things one can engage in to avoid loneliness.


--------Log in to Nairaland. com and you'll see so many real and crazy posts that will make you laugh out like a baby.
----------Log in to the Facebook and start looking at your friend's posts and pictures.
---------Register with as many social media as possible and relate with your friends.

--------Read books, comical, romance, family, adventures, motivational, crime, and so on.

---------Listen to radio.

-----------Watch television, especially comedy.

----------Offer praises and prayers. (for those who believe in God)


These are some of the things one can do when alone and do not want to be lonely.

Well, loneliness is a choice.