Loneliness: Damages Your Health And Well-being

If you are over 50, loneliness can add up to 30 points to your blood pressure. The relationship holds even after allowing for other negative emotive states, like sadness, stress or hostility. A 30 point difference is enough to recategorise someone from normal blood pressure to hypertension. (The study looked at the impact on systolic blood pressure, the top number in the BP reading.)

Friendship and social connections are important parts of happiness: they contribute to our resilience. Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam and a recent study by Lynn Smith-Lovin draw attention to the sharp contraction of inner circles until it only includes close family or a spouse. It seems that we are more protected from adverse events if we have several people with whom we can discuss important issues.

Loneliness has such a significant impact on hypertension in older people that it is estimated to be of a similar order of magnitude as the well-accepted risk factors, such as obesity or sedentary lifestyles. People can be socially active but still feel lonely. It seems that feelings of loneliness are a health risk. The lonelier somebody is, then the higher the blood pressure. Hypertension is known to have negative health consequences. Loneliness is probably a significant contributor to our Hearts and Minds Age.

Positive emotions and social networks have a strong impact on our well-being and longevity. However, living at a distance from friends and family can make it difficult to keep in touch with them. Modern working practices can make it difficult to socialise with friends who have similar schedules. So, the solution to loneliness may not be straightforward.

A lot of health news concentrates on drugs, technology and less enjoyable interventions. What would be some practical steps that people can take towards cultivating the relationships that they have or acquiring new friends. Does this seem too simple? Is accepting the health benefits of positive emotion still too much of a leap of faith?

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project