Loneliness as a Health Risk

GaleHawkins · April 2016

latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-loneliness-heart-risk-smoking-20160419-story.html

A clip from the article: "The problem is that people who fit all those descriptions tend to engage in fewer healthy behaviors such as exercise, visiting a doctor, and following his or her recommendations. And they're more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol to excess and eating too much or too little."

Do you see loneliness as an eating health risk in your area/community or this article being more as a way to fill some inches of column space by a newspaper instead of being newsworthy?

bpetrosky · April 2016

Loneliness an "eating" health risk? No.
Loneliness as a symptom of other issues? Yes
Loneliness as negative feedback mechanism that makes treating other health problems more challenging? Absolutely

Nothing in the article is surprising or "newsworthy" in the sense of providing any new findings. It is beneficial as a PSA to remind people who have friends or family at risk that staying socially connected helps improve outcomes.

juggernaut1974 · April 2016

Without having read anything other than the headline, this would seem to be the perfect of example of correlation =/= causation

ekat120 · April 2016

Well, the research article the LA Times article linked to doesn't appear to be the loneliness one. But I'm familiar with some of the research in this area, and I would agree that while some of it's correlation =/= causation, there are also mechanisms that have been identified for why social isolation/loneliness could create health problems. For example, social support and affection (which lonely people get less of) are associated with better health (e.g., affectionate behavior improves cortisol levels).

Unknown · April 2016

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shrcpr · April 2016

What about those of use who would like to be socially isolated but people won't leave us the heck alone?!? LOL. I'm currently taking a 12-week break from social obligations to focus on my health and fitness goals. I find being social hinders my efforts because everything revolves around food and drinking.

BeYouTiful94 · April 2016

Mmm ... See .... Being social is so taxing to me. Like, not that I'm "unfriendly". I'm just super introverted. I am completely at peace when I am alone, whereas social situations wear me out. Not only do I eat more in social situations because everything social tends to involve food, but I also eat more in social situations because I'm stressed to the point that I feel compelled to continue putting things in my mouth as a distraction to the fact that I'm itching to go home and curl up with a good book.

Now, I do have my family (mom, dad, brother), and a few really good friends. I'm usually the listener, but if I need support in something, they're there. So I'm not "lacking support", should I need it. I just usually don't ask because I like to do things myself, and me being alone doesn't make me eat more, and it definitely doesn't make me depressed. Being socially makes me depressed and probably caused all sorts of health risks to me based off of stress levels, so to say being lonely leads to health risks makes me wonder if they considered the introverted population as well

ekat120 · April 2016

Loneliness is a perception, not something that can be quantified by # of friends or time spent with other people. If you don't feel lonely, you're not lonely, no matter how (un)social you are. (Conversely, people can be lonely even with lots of friends. If you feel lonely, you are lonely.)

MelaniaTrump · April 2016

People get lonely, because they can't afford to do anything.

queenliz99 · April 2016

http://youtu.be/22QYriWAF-U

Loneliness as a Health Risk

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