New research out of the University of Chicago states that there’s a direct link between lonely people and illness. Previous studies have asserted the dangers of loneliness, but this has been able to prove that it has a negative impact on people’s health.
No Man is An Island
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, states that lonely people have a higher risk of untimely death, chances being 14% higher than for people living with family or loved ones. Loneliness triggers cellular reactions that change the way the body produces white blood cells.
The study, conducted on humans and the rhesus macaques primate, and they identified a phenomenon called ‘conserved transcriptional response to adversity’, where inflammation genes grow in number and others associated with antiviral responses decline in number. This means that lonely people are less likely to be able to fight viral infections efficiently.
Loneliness Causes Fight or Flight Stress
The research showed that lonely people and primates have a higher production of unripe monocytes, which causes fight or flight stress. This all points to the fact that stress, a low white blood cell count and increased anxiety could lead to untimely death. The research certainly calls for further study into the effects of loneliness and the physical ability to fight infection.
