Being a "marginal person" is sad and nerve-wracking! The consequences of long-term "social isolation" are more serious than obesity
Is it more nerve-wracking to be a “marginal person”? Loneliness increases dementia risk, damages brain white matter
As a member of a social group, it is inevitable that you will feel “lonely” when you are not accompanied by your relatives and friends. You may get a moment of comfort by being a “marginal” once in a while, but many studies have proven that long-term loneliness may have adverse physical and mental consequences, including an increased risk of dementia and a decline in cognitive function in old age; and Higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
Research published in the neuromedical journal “Neurology” pointed out that loneliness has increased year by year with the widespread spread of COVID-19. The research team evaluated the brain structure of nearly 2,308 subjects and found that people who subjectively identified themselves as “lonely individuals” (feeling lonely for more than 3 days in the past week) had poorer executive function compared with subjects who were not consciously lonely. Deterioration, lower total brain volume, and higher levels of brain “white matter” damage.
Study author Joel Salinas said that elderly people over the age of 65 often live alone, and with the implementation of home isolation policies in recent years, the elderly lack the care of their families and the care of long-term care institutions. “Imagine that when an elderly person goes out alone, he must risk being diagnosed and may not be able to find his way home. Psychological loneliness leads to brain degeneration, and the consequences cannot be ignored by the public!”
Living alone in the elderly causes chronic stress and isolated women are more likely to suffer from heart disease
Loneliness not only causes “invisible” psychological problems, but research in “JAMA Network Open” also shows that there may be a relationship between social isolation and severe cardiovascular disease among older women in the United States.
Approximately 60,000 women aged 65 to 99 participated in the study, with no prior history of cardiovascular disease. After about 8 years of random interviews, the study results show that social isolation (meaning the situation where the elderly must live alone due to lack of care) and psychological loneliness increase the risk of serious cardiovascular events by 8% and 5% respectively. Compared with women who are not lonely, isolated women have a 13-27% increased risk of severe cardiovascular disease.
The research team stated that social isolation and loneliness are often accompanied by chronic stress, which leads to endocrine disorders through neural stimulation, disrupts neural autonomic functions, and ultimately triggers the body’s chronic inflammatory response. Chronic inflammation is thought to be associated with cardiovascular events such as atherosclerosis. In addition, socially isolated and lonely people are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, be physically inactive, and have poorer diet quality. These factors may lead to the development of more serious cardiovascular events.
Social isolation may become an “epidemic” and its impact will be more serious than “obesity”?
Based on the above two studies, we can know that the actual impact of social isolation and psychological loneliness cannot be ignored. Many experts believe that loneliness has gradually become an “epidemic” and is gradually expanding with the lack of care policies and the insufficiency of help-seeking mechanisms.
Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology at Brigham Young University in the United States, believes that loneliness will become a more serious health problem than “obesity” in the future. Previous large-scale research led by Dr. Holt-Lunstad has shown that social isolation and loneliness are associated with an increased chance of “premature death.”
German psychology expert Maike Luhmann also pointed out that individuals of every age group may feel lonely, especially the elderly who cannot leave home, and are even more affected. “This will be a vicious cycle. Depression or cardiovascular disease caused by social isolation have been ignored by health units for a long time. More active intervention measures are to prevent the elderly from becoming lonely individuals,” said Dr. Luhmann.
source:
Evaluation of Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Cardiovascular Disease Among Older Women in the US
Loneliness: A Boon for Neither the Heart nor the Mind
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