Loneliness hurts our health

A recent study revealed a disturbing result: Lonely people have a higher risk of death than people with close social dating relationships. The sun of a partnership diminishes the risk of death of people a little.

People are very different when it comes to how much time it for themselves alone need. Some place great value on time with other people to spend much as possible, while others like to frequent and extended to self-reflect. One, however, have probably all in common: even if the quantity of social contacts may vary from person to person, the quality is probably everyone's heart.

That loneliness affects our mental well-being is no secret. A study shows now but also what many long suspected already: just negative, how it affects our psyche, it does so even on our physical health.

Three scientists from the University of North Carolina have recently published a meta-analysis on the topic of solitude published. They studied for this purpose cases with a total of a thousand respondents from various Western countries.

The primary result is shocking: The influence of the quality of social relationships on mortality rates are comparable to other risk factors such as smoking, alcohol abuse or obesity. For example, researchers have found that loneliness a person harms related to the daily consumption of a dozen cigarettes.

Overall, the survival probability in people with close social contacts, such as people in a harmonious partnership increased by half. This result should be motivation enough to open to people and to maintain existing relationships.

Wednesday, 25 May 2011 10:43