How Loneliness Affects Your Health?

128
How Loneliness Affects Your Health

Have you ever saw yourself getting more comfortable in being alone? Do you feel more powerful in isolation than with interacting people? Have you noticed yourself to be getting quieter than usual? These symptoms reflect that you are getting lonelier. Loneliness is the kind of phenomenon in an individual’s life where they want to disconnect from people and just want to stay alone. As powerful as loneliness sounds because of the factor of becoming self-sufficient, it isn’t that charming. Three out of five adults, or 61%, reports that they often feel lonely. Loneliness is an unpleasant feeling, which can make you feel like you don’t belong anywhere.

Loneliness is such a treat to your life that it may slowly eat the happiness away from you and make you sick of your own self. It causes its harm in the long run, with constant negative thoughts and feelings of isolation. When you start feeling lonely, the level of cortisol, a stress hormone, goes up. Cortisol can impair cognitive performance, like our brain’s ability to functioning, compromise the immune system, and increase the risk of vascular problems in your body. Loneliness is a real thing that can happen to several individuals because of some issues or changes in their life. 

Although most people prefer solitude in today’s generation because of the chances of becoming independent and gaining freedom, a long time of loneliness can lead to severe mental illness or other issues for your health. When a person is exposed to an inevitable change that they are unwilling to accept, they get a hard time coping with those new dynamics of their lives. For instance, you used to have a vast circle, but after changing to a new school due to any reason, you face disconnection from your old friends and a challenging time interacting with your new mates.

Now we will look at some symptoms of loneliness that your body might indicate with time. These are; decreased energy, loss of appetite, sleeping issues, feelings of self-doubts or failures, a tendency to get sick quickly, body aches and pains, feelings of anxiousness and restlessness, cravings for physical warms such as hot drinks, baths, and cozy clothes and blankets. As much as loneliness can affect your wellbeing, it can also be cured in a period because it is highly treatable. Consulting a therapist is one of the best options to become more outgoing and less lonely. Talking to someone might also decrease your load of carrying so much stress and make you more connected.

A survey from 2017 found 40 studies that show that social isolation and loneliness are found to link to a higher number of deaths at an early age due to cardiovascular issues and worsened mental and physical health. Another study showed that results from the 2012 Swiss Health Survey found proof that loneliness links to increased risks for; chronic illness, high cholesterol, emotional distress, diabetes, and depression. While loneliness may not be a diagnosable illness, there are still ways that can help you overcome it. Finding the best way to identify loneliness in yourself requires efforts to determine what’s actually causing it. For example;

  • You might have trouble getting to open up to people or trusting them. Either they are new friends or in a romantic relationship.
  • You might have moved to a new city where you feel lost and lonely because of not having the same feeling of belonging to your home.
  • You might have a lot of flings or casual relationships, which ends up making you the loneliest because you don’t confide in anyone.
  • You might have feelings of unworthiness every now and then. Feelings of not being good enough or self-criticism because you don’t feel like ordinary people do.
  • There might be a death of a really closed one which has made you isolated and stressed.

In all of these cases, the best thing to do is talk to a therapist who would let you know about your fears and overcome those weaknesses that are not helping you move to a joyful and stress-free life. Most importantly, to survive in this world, it is essential to keep relations with everyone to not feel lonely and end up with unhealthy life.

Until Next Time,

Team Doctor ASKY!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here