Why being lonely can kill… from heart disease to depression feeling isolated affects your mental and physical health

CHRISTMAS DAY will likely be a lonely time for the estimated 4.5million people, or seven in every hundred of us, who will spend it alone this year.

This is far from a new problem but has been worsened by the pandemic and two national lockdowns.

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The Sun’s Christmas Together campaign

THIS Christmas we are teaming up with the Together Campaign, a coalition of community groups and organisations, and Royal Voluntary Service to combat loneliness.

And we want to recruit an army of volunteers to support those feeling cut off, anxious and isolated, this Christmas.

Could YOU reach out to someone who might be struggling and alone?    

It might be someone you know in your own life or community who needs support.

Or we can connect you with someone in need through the NHS Volunteer responder programme run by the NHS, Royal Voluntary Service and the GoodSAM app. 

Could you give up half an hour to make a call and chat with someone feeling  isolated? Or could you volunteer to deliver essential shopping or festive treats?

Go to to sign up as a volunteer. 

You will then receive an email taking you through the sign up process and be asked to download the responder app which will match you to those in need in your area.

Don’t worry if you don’t get a job straight away, because jobs are matched according to the need local to you.  Being ready to help is what really matters.

This year 60 per cent of us have admitted feeling more lonely, while during the latest four-week shutdown 4.2million were left feeling isolated. And it is not just the elderly who are struggling – those aged 16 to 29 are twice as likely than the over-70s to be craving company.

That is why this year our Christmas Together campaign is teaming up with community groups and organisations to help you take steps to reverse the loneliness epidemic. But why does this issue matter so much?

While it has long been known that loneliness is linked to poor mental health, there are also plenty of other conditions that can be exacerbated by being alone – from immunity to blood pressure, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

Psychologist Emma Kenny tells Fabulous Daily: “There’s a very real link between increased feelings of loneliness and mental-health conditions, from anxiety and depression, through to low self-esteem, sleep problems and stress.

“It’s vital that people understand feeling lonely isn’t anything to be ashamed about and there’s help out there.”

Here, experts reveal how getting help if you feel lonely could mean you live a longer and happier life.

Heart disease

It’s the biggest killer in the UK and it turns out heart disease can be more deadly for those who are lonely.

Scientists at Denmark’s Copenhagen University Hospital studied the cases of more than 13,000 patients with ischaemic heart disease, arrhythmia, heart failure or heart-valve disease and found people who identified as lonely were twice as likely to die from the conditions.

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Anne Vinggaard Christensen, who worked on the study, said: “We know that loneliness is associated with poor health outcomes – this is true for both people with cardiac disease but also in general.

“In our study we found both men and women who reported feeling lonely had a doubled risk of mortality from any cause within the first year of hospital discharge.

“It can probably be explained by a combination of mental and physical factors. But the results indicate that loneliness should be taken seriously as a health risk factor.”

Trouble sleeping

Those of us who are isolated are 24 per cent more likely to feel tired and struggle to concentrate, according to research from King’s College London.

They warn it suggests loneliness disrupts sleep patterns and leads to poor- quality shut-eye.

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The 2,000 volunteers who took part in the survey were asked questions about feelings of isolation, and their sleep quality was measured over the course of a month.

Scientists found a direct correlation between those people who slept badly and those who reported craving more company.

Depression

Feeling cut off from the world can put you in a dark place mentally.

Loneliness is responsible for 18 per cent of depression cases in people aged over 50, according to a study at University College London.

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The researchers also found one in five cases of depression could be prevented if loneliness was eliminated.

Worryingly, experiences of loneliness were still having an effect on mental health 12 years after initial feelings were reported.

Senior author Dr Gemma Lewis said: ‘We found that up to 20 per cent of cases of depression could be prevented if we were able to reduce loneliness.

“In our study, feeling lonely had a stronger relationship with depression than being socially isolated or not seeing people very often.

“This suggests there is something unique about loneliness that we should consider when thinking about interventions.”

Co-author Professor Sonia Johnson added: “The evidence is growing that loneliness is a major driver of mental-health problems, especially depression.

“This now presents a major opportunity to develop and test innovative strategies across sectors to improve mental health by reducing loneliness.”

Dementia

Feeling lonely has long been linked with cognitive decline.

But a new US study looking at the brains of healthy adults found those who reported feelings of loneliness had higher cortical amyloid levels – a marker used to help diagnose dementia and Alzheimer’s.

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Participants in the Harvard Medical School who had increased amyloid were seven and a half times more likely to identify as lonely.

Diabetes

Lacking quality time with other people can increase risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Research by the European Association For The Study Of Diabetes looked at more than 4,000 participants over 15 years and found that those who had reported loneliness and a lack of mean-ingful connect-ions in their life were more likely to develop the condition – which costs the National Health Service around £10billion each year.

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Health psychology lecturer Dr Ruth Hackett, lead author of the paper, said: “The study looked at loneliness in 4,112 adults aged 50 and older living in England.

“At the time loneliness was assessed, these partici-pants were free of diabetes or high blood sugar. They were followed over a period of 12 years and there was a strong independent relationship between loneliness and the later development of Type 2 diabetes.

“This association remained even when age and obesity – which are the biggest risk factors for Type 2 diabetes – were taken into account.

“This highlights that it is the quality of social connec-tions that is important for diabetes risk.”

Addiction to smoking

Lonely people are more likely to take up smoking, and find it harder to quit, research at the University of Bristol found.

The report’s co-lead author, Dr Robyn Wootton, said: “We found evidence to suggest loneliness leads to increased smoking – with people more likely to start, to smoke more cigarettes and to be less likely to quit.”

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Senior author Dr Jorien Treur added: “Our finding that smoking may also lead to more loneliness is tentative but is in line with other recent studies that identified smoking as a risk factor for poor mental health.

“A potential mechanism for this relationship is that the nicotine in cigarette smoke interferes with neuro- transmitters in the brain such as dopamine.”

Stroke

Lonliness and social isolation are linked to around a 30-per-cent increase in the risk of having a stroke or developing coronary artery disease, according to analysis of 23 studies.

Researchers looked at studies involving 181,000 participants and found loneliness was associated with a 29-per-cent increased risk of a heart or angina attack and a 32-per-cent heightened risk of suffering a stroke.

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Inflammation

Loneliness could also be linked to increased inflammation in the body, according to experts at Brunel and Surrey universities.

Their research found that social isolation was directly linked to the presence of a protein called C-reactive, which is released into the bloodstream when an injury occurs.

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The researchers also identified that the link was more likely to be seen in men than women.

Dr Kimberley Smith, lecturer in health psychology at the University of Surrey, said: “Loneliness and social isolation have been shown to increase our risk of poorer health.

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“Many researchers propose that part of the reason for this is because they influence the body’s inflammatory response.”

• The Together Campaign is part of the Great Winter Get Together. Find out more .

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