In an interconnected world of Facebook feeds and Twitter tweets and endless social media platforms, a persistent human emotion still rises above that technological clatter.
Loneliness.
That sense of isolation persists among a significant segment of the population. That is certainly a threat to good mental health. And ultimately, researchers say being lonely can lead to physical consequences.
A Norwegian study involving more than 24,000 people found that those who indicated they were very lonely in the previous two weeks were twice as likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who felt socially connected. That’s after adjusting for age, sex and education level.
The body responds to loneliness by releasing stress hormones that can affect us in different ways. Insulin resistance occurs when fat, muscle and liver cells do not respond normally to insulin, making it difficult for them to absorb sugar from the bloodstream.
Such resistance increases, scientists say, when stress hormones are released. And that can lead to the onset of diabetes.
There might be other mechanisms at work, too. For example, lonely people have been shown in previous studies to consume more sugar because of unhealthy eating habits they can be prone to develop.
The association with diabetes points to the idea that loneliness could be added to screening guidelines for the disease.
Interestingly, investigators also found that those people who developed diabetes in their survey were far more likely than not to be married.
That finding aside, the study is yet another reminder that real connection with other people is a powerful influence on our health.