How social isolation changes the brain

• Loneliness affects 19 to 43 per cent of adults who are now past 60 years of age.
• Just as physical pain is a warning from the body telling us to take appropriate action, our feeling of being lonely and disconnected is a social pain, a signal that we need to take care of ourselves by the means of companionship.
• Loneliness, if prolonged, is also associated with heart disease, strokes and other lifestyle diseases.

Studies show that older adults who are lonely see a decline in their thinking abilities, which is rapid if paired with other factors like physical inactivity, anxiety, poor sleep and high blood pressure.

Prolonged social isolation is a kind of mental stress leading to various mental and physical health issues like faster ageing, dementia and cognitive decline. It has also been linked to the factors that lead to Alzheimer’s disease, like a build-up of certain toxic proteins in the brain.