“My loneliness is killing me”, sang Britney Spears at the end of 1998 in the title Baby One more time. The pop star didn’t think she said it so well… According to the World Health Organization (WHO), loneliness has as negative an impact on health as daily smoking, heavy alcohol consumption or obesity. On November 15, the organization even announced the creation of a commission on social bonds, describing loneliness as an “urgent threat” to health.
In France, nearly one in three people feel alone every day or often, according to a study carried out by the Crédoc Vulnerability Observatory in June 2022. They were less than one in five in April 2020. And the lack of social interactions does not only affect the elderly. According to a survey by the Fondation de France, 21% of 15-30 year olds were in a situation of isolation in 2021.
If social isolation consists of a lack of social relationships, loneliness concerns “the social pain linked to not feeling connected to others”, explains the WHO. “Choose solitude can be very appreciated and even essential to well-being,” explains Sandra Hoibian, general director of the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions (Crédoc). It is involuntary solitude that can be harmful. »
Dementia, heart attack and stroke
In a column published last April in the New York TimesVivek Murthy, the United States Public Health Officer, explains that when people lack social connections, their risk of developing cardiovascular disease increases by 29%, 50% for dementia and 32% for heart attack. “The increased risk of premature death associated with social disconnection is comparable to daily smoking – and may be even higher than the risk associated with obesity,” he adds.
A study from the American Heart Association, published on August 4, 2022, goes in this direction. It shows that people who are alone or feel alone are 32% more likely to have a stroke, and 29% more likely to have a heart attack. As a reminder, daily smoking increases the risk of having a stroke by two and that of myocardial infarction by three.
The lack of social interactions would also have an impact on physical fitness. According to a March 2023 study by researchers at the Universities of Vienna and Cambridge, eight hours of social isolation would have a comparable energy-lowering effect to eight hours of food deprivation.
Depression, anxiety and addictions
Devastation on the body, but also in the head. Researchers from University College London (UCL) looked at the relationship between depressive symptoms and loneliness among older people living in the United Kingdom. The study carried out on more than 4,000 people over 50 followed over twelve years shows that those who felt alone presented more depressive symptoms. A trend that grew stronger over time. Other studies show a similar link with anxiety, addictions and suicide risk.
So much for the consequences. And the causes? Several researchers have attempted to understand the link between loneliness and deterioration in health. Some studies suggest that a lack of social relationships impairs cognitive abilities. One of them, published in the New England Journal of Medicine thus shows the deleterious effects of isolation on the brain. Researchers analyzed the brain activity of explorers who spent more than a year isolated in Antarctica, before and after their mission. According to the MRI results, the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory and learning, had significantly decreased after fourteen months.
Parkinson disease
Latest study on the subject: researchers from Florida State University published on October 2 a vast analysis establishing for the first time a link between loneliness and the occurrence of Parkinson’s disease. Nearly 500,000 people were followed over fifteen years in the United Kingdom. Result: single people have a 37% increased risk of incidence of this neurodegenerative disease.
After the observation, the solutions. The new WHO commission is expected to present, in three years, ideas for “developing social connections on a large scale”. Soon prescriptions for social interactions?