High blood pressure is often recognized as a lifestyle disease, caused by poor diet, lack of exercises and chronic stress.
But did you know that it can also be caused by a very common type of social interaction – especially among people over 50?
This factor can actually increase your chances of premature death by a whopping 14 percent. It means that it is twice as likely to cause premature death as obesity!
The good news: it’s VERY easy to correct!
The researchers looked at the social habits of more than 2,000 people older than 50 years. They found that those who reported to be the loneliest, were more than twice as likely to die during the 6 year long study period time, compared to those who had strong social ties with other people.
Researchers point out that loneliness has a dramatic impact on one’s health. Feeling alone and isolated from others disrupts sleep, raises blood pressure, drastically increases the levels of stress hormone cortisol and even causes depression.
Previous studies linked loneliness to a whole range of health issues such as increased risk of heart attack, stroke and type 2 diabetes to even weakened immune system.
A 2012 study on older Britons revealed that more than a fifth of the participants felt lonely all the time. A quarter of the study participants became lonelier over the past five years. Half the participants expressed that their loneliness was worse at weekends and during the night time.
Some health experts compare the feeling of loneliness to severe physical pain and suffering.
The recent trend in senior community is to get ‘a fresh new start’ by moving out of familiar neighborhoods where they’ve lived for many years to ‘fresher, sunnier pastures’ to enjoy their retirement.
However, experts advice elderly people to think twice before making such a drastic change. Moving to a warmer place like Florida or any other exotic location does not guarantee happier and more fulfilling lives.
Researchers noticed that those elders who continue to interact with their old friends, coworkers and families are less likely to be lonely or suffer poor health.
No wonder that people who have the highest life expectancy in the world share one common trend – they all have extremely strong social ties and live in close-knit communities.
It is important to note that being alone and feeling lonely does not always go hand in hand. There are many happy and healthy individuals who enjoy the solitude. And there are many people who are surrounded by people and still feel lonely and isolated.
If you feel that loneliness is getting to you and affecting your life, there are many ways to fight it.
Try to get out more, engage in different social activities like community service, choir or join a dance group. Even participating in posting and replying to comments on articles like this one will help you open up for social interactions!
But first, remember that the most important action is to take care of your health. We highly recommend few action steps to fight the conditions most closely related to loneliness:
I completely agree, social interactions is the key to happiness in life, especially in older age. It is just not natural for human beings to be isolated, because we are social beings by nature.
I have to say I enjoy being alone from time to time, but I enjoy even more to be surrounded by family and friends.
Let’s don’t isolate ourselves and share our life with others, it brings so much joy 🙂
Thank you for your wonderful lecture. I never know that loneliness can lead to High Blood Pressure. I will now try to reach out with people in order to avoid it.
I never know that loneliness can breed High Blood Pressure. it is true that we you in the midst of others you tend to forget certain pressures of life. Thank you for this wonderful lecture. I will now try to interact with more people of good repute. Thank you and God Bless
Well said. Being lonely causes lots of health and mental issues. I’m not surprised high blood pressure is one of them.
When I feel lonely, I try to get out more often. I go to the park or just walk around the mall.
I believe that loneliness causes high blood pressure, because it makes you very sad and stressed at times..
I am glad I got my cat,it is also a company.
Thank you for your in depth analysis on health related case. The education is very useful and important since it informs us a lot on some habits that can harm us but we don't realize them.
I think another issue with loneliness is that it seems to cause mental disease. I can think of two senior citizens who continued to live by themselves after their spouses died and in a few years both of them started hallucinating and creating their own ‘people’ around them and both seem to be heading for Alzheimers unfortunately.