The Surprising Truth About Loneliness and Longevity

Two older women relax in a hammock by a lake, laughing.

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Loneliness can increase your risk of early death. This fact has been conventional wisdom for a long time. Past research has shown a clear connection between social isolation and mortality, and the U.S. Surgeon General even published a lengthy advisory on the "epidemic" of loneliness and isolation that was putting Americans at risk.

Of course, it also seems intuitive that a person lacking in social connections would suffer consequences that impact their physical health, as no one likes to be lonely.

Now, however, new research is calling into question this long-held belief and, surprisingly, found that loneliness may not be quite the threat that we all once thought it was. In fact, the problem may be one of confusing cause and effect.

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Loneliness may not be the cause of mortality after all

To gain further insight into the relationship between loneliness and health, researchers conducted a global study of home care recipients across three countries.

Over 300,000 seniors were included in the study, with home care recipients chosen for the research because this population is likely to have high rates of loneliness due to complex health needs and mobility issues. This differed from other loneliness studies, many of which focused on the general population

Surprisingly, these researchers discovered that lonelier individuals actually fared better than those with stronger social connections, with the study stating, " the risk-adjusted rates of mortality were consistently lower among lonely home care clients than among those who were not lonely."

While between 15% and 25% of home care recipients included in the study exhibited loneliness, those with more complex health issues and reduced levels of activity were the most likely to be lonely — yet, their risk of death was still lower.

This meant, contrary to past evidence, this research showed that "when adjusting for age-related confounding factors, loneliness is not predictive of increased mortality risk."

Why is the data on loneliness so different here?

Researchers were not entirely confident as to why this study data was so different from past research.

However, one theory suggests that the prior research does not get the relationship right between loneliness and mortality.

Many of the past studies are focused on the general population, for whom loneliness is associated with poor health status — but loneliness is also associated with both advanced age and depressive symptoms in this population. Both of those factors may be the explanation for the early death rather than the loneliness itself.

Because the population in this latest research is focused on home care recipients, it's also possible that those who were the sickest received the most time with caregivers. This added interaction with caregivers may have reduced the risks of loneliness among this vulnerable group.

Some past research also suggests that people who are lonelier have higher health-seeking behavior, which could result in better health outcomes and a reduced mortality risk.

Lastly, researchers suggested that there's a possibility that "loneliness may be a consequence of those health changes [that lead to mortality] rather than their cause." In other words, changes related to advancing health may both make people more lonely and more likely to pass away.

How to protect yourself from the risk of loneliness

This research should provide some comfort to older people struggling with social connections, in that it reveals being lonely is not necessarily as deadly as feared.

However, while the specific relationship between loneliness and death is unclear, it is clear that loneliness is a factor that affects well-being to some degree.

So, while maintaining social connections can become more challenging without the structure of work or the increase in connections that come with raising young children, it remains important for retirees to continue to build strong social networks.

Joining clubs, making regular plans with friends and neighbors, volunteering, and enjoying nature with others are all possible ways to tackle the loneliness problem.

Those who are experiencing more serious health issues may also benefit from increased time with caregivers who can reduce their feelings of isolation, especially if this latest research is correct that the link between loneliness and increased mortality is actually caused by the health issues that both increase the risk of death and the risk of social isolation.

Christy Bieber is an experienced personal finance and legal writer who has been writing since 2008. She has been published by Forbes, CNN, WSJ Buyside, Motley Fool, and many other online sites. She has a JD from UCLA and a degree in English, Media, and Communications from the University of Rochester.