In our modern, technology-driven world, we’ve never been more connected, yet paradoxically, loneliness has become a silent epidemic.
This pervasive isolation doesn’t just take an emotional toll; it disrupts a fundamental need: restful sleep. From increased insomnia and early awakenings to compromised cognitive function and heightened disease risk, the consequences of loneliness touch every aspect of our health.
But there’s a way out, a path that leads back to people’s intrinsic need for belonging.
The Toll of Sleepless Nights
There are 75 to 85 ailments linked to insufficient sleep, Giles Watkins, a sleep expert and the author of “Positive Sleep,” told The Epoch Times. “Just about everything you can think of ... could be traced back to sleep.”A 2021 longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of 95,045 community-dwelling adults over 65 found that those who were socially isolated and lonely were much more likely to experience poor sleep quality. Conversely, those living with another person enjoyed better sleep.
There is also evidence from a 2017 observational study and recent research that loneliness can contribute to insufficient sleep, nonrestorative sleep, early morning awakenings, and difficulty falling asleep.
Insomnia symptoms can arise from loneliness through various pathways, such as heightened vigilance, anxiety, and increased stress. Research published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine suggests that when people perceive their environment as unsafe, a common feeling during loneliness, we are hardwired to feel vulnerable and unconsciously vigilant, which can disrupt sleep.
Loneliness can also lead to long-term stress signaling, negatively impacting the immune system and increasing inflammation. With a larger cortisol response when feeling lonely, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis—the link between perceived stress and physiological reactions to stress—could become dysregulated, disrupting sleep while also enhancing inflammatory processes that play a role in chronic diseases, atherosclerosis, and hypertension, according to the Annals of Behavioral Medicine paper.
Hidden Mortality Risk
Loneliness is not only detrimental to our sleep; recent research has also identified it as a major risk factor for mortality. A research article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer-reviewed journal, has shown that loneliness is especially deadly for older people.One reason loneliness could be such a significant risk factor for mortality is the differences in blood pressure regulation it creates.
Specifically, research shows that lonely individuals have higher vascular resistance (restricted blood flow due to constriction). Heightened vascular resistance puts more stress on the lining of blood vessels, which could contribute to atherosclerosis and hypertension.
Loneliness can also lead to decreased executive control and reduced physical activity engagement.
In later stages of life, loneliness also seems to have an impact on dementia and cognitive decline due to its effects on inflammation, neural atrophy in certain brain regions, and disrupted stress hormone levels. These debilitating conditions can, in fact, further isolate a person, exacerbating the cycle of loneliness.
A study published in the Journal of Family Practice found a statistically significant correlation between loneliness scores and the total number of hospital emergency department visits. Patients with loneliness scores higher than the mean visited the emergency department 60 percent more frequently per year compared to those with lower scores.
The Roots of Modern Loneliness
As loneliness significantly impacts sleep, and sleep deprivation affects health, an important question arises: Why do so many people in modern societies feel lonely?Technology
One potential reason is our increasing disconnect due to technology. Heavy social media use can cause feelings of isolation and loneliness, with people who spend over two hours per day on social media doubling their chances of feeling lonely and isolated, according to the 2023 Surgeon General’s Advisory.“Technology, particularly our smartphone devices, provides us with an always-on, always-available, 24 hours, seven days a week, unlimited access to connection,” Alexander Bell, a keynote speaker and author of ”Tech Rules,” told The Epoch Times. “We find ourselves turning to our devices the very moment we feel alone, bored, or left with our own thoughts.”
Convenience is the biggest killer of connections, leading us to revert to relying solely on our devices, he noted.
Mr. Bell recommends regularly making time and space for authentic, in-person connections and creating “tech rules” to foster more meaningful human interactions.
Early Experiences
Another reason many people are feeling lonelier can be traced back to infancy.For an infant to truly thrive, social comfort and contact are essential. Good nutrition alone is not enough for optimal health and well-being. Because of this, sensitivity to isolation can be fostered in attachment security in mother–infant bonds very early in life. Unresponsive parenting can cultivate distrust and insecurity, which can distort perceptions of social isolation and feelings of loneliness.
Nourishing a sense of belonging and connectedness in childhood not only promotes better sleep but can also protect against physical health problems later in life, according to research published in the Journal of Adolescence.
The Antidote to Loneliness
The opposite of loneliness is a sense of community. The word “community” derives from the Latin “commun,” meaning common. The same root is found in “communicate” (“to share understanding”) and “communion” (“to share experience”).As Mark Nepo, a spiritual adviser and author of “More Together Than Alone,” wrote, nurturing a community is “about an effort to animate what we have in common.”
Community is a crucial element in the Blue Zones research, which studies areas with the most centenarian residents globally. These regions focus on:
- Having a supportive social circle where habits are contagious
- Supporting strong family relationships
- Keeping aging parents near their children for survival and wisdom-sharing
- Belonging to faith-based communities, which can extend lifespan by four to 14 years.
- Intergenerational programs like one Dutch retirement home’s free housing program for students who spend time with older residents. The goal is to spend a minimum of 30 hours each month with the older community. The living arrangement helped foster connectedness by encouraging the young and the old to interact.
- Adopting pets. Pet owners are 36 percent less likely to feel lonely, according to research.
- Giving back to the community and examining how we raise children to prevent perpetuating loneliness.
- Establishing boundaries around technology use to protect authentic human connections.
