According to a new study, loneliness can cause significant health risk that can increase the risk of premature death in older adults by 14 percent. The study creates a link between loneliness and a risk in physical and psychological health.
Science Times reports that researchers from the University of Chicago led by John Cacioppo studied 141 participants to analyze the connection between white blood cells and gene expression. Chronic loneliness was identified in 36 of the participants.
The study reveals that the immune system including leukocytes is likely low in people with chronic loneliness. There was also an increase in gene expression in cells involved in inflammation and protection.
"Leukocyte gene expression and loneliness appear to have a reciprocal relationship, suggesting that each can help propagate the other over time," researchers said. "These results were specific to loneliness and could not be explained by depression, stress or social support."
According to Cacioppo, the gene expression is changing the body to prepare for a bacterial infection. So those individuals who feel lonely are actually making their bodies vulnerable to viruses and protecting their bodies against bacteria.
Meanwhile in a separate study on lonely macaque monkeys, the same inflammatory response was seen in their gene expression. This shift was mostly attributed to the increase of immature cells or monocytes. The team introduced a simian immunodeficiency virus in the monkeys to know the effect. The virus in the lonely monkeys was found to thrive in the blood and brain compared to those monkeys that are not lonely.
In conclusion based on the two studies, both lonely humans and lonely monkeys showed high levels of monocytes in their blood according to researchers. The production of white blood cells is triggered by the danger signals activated in the brain by feeling of loneliness. In turn, the shift in monocyte production may both increase loneliness and risk to associated health risks.
So if you want to stay healthy, be sure to be happy. Don't forget to share on Facebook!
