How loneliness is bad for your health

... and it stops sufferers from making new friends

LONELY people can lose their social skills because of changes in the brain caused by isolation, experts have claimed.

People who live alone and rarely socialise start out with similar social skills to everyone else, a conference in Edinburgh was told yesterday.

But being lonely leaves them less able to interact with others by changing their brain so that they feel less empathetic.

It creates a ‘vicious circle’ in which it becomes harder for lonely people, such as the elderly, to create new relationships.

This in turn puts their health in danger, with loneliness found to raise blood pressure and the risk of dementia – making it as bad for someone as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

The effect of loneliness on the brain was presented by Professor Sabina Brennan, of Trinity College, Dublin, and the Institute of Neuroscience, at the national summit Loneliness in Scotland.

Referring to research conducted by the University of Chicago, she said: ‘A really interesting thing happens in the area of the brain responsible for empathy.

‘There is reduced activity. The lonelier we become, the less empathetic we are.

‘We have this idea that those who become socially isolated are maybe socially awkward or do not have social skills. Actually, that’s not true. There’s no data for that. But what research does show is that when we become lonely, we become less socially skilled, so it impacts on our ability to engage appropriately in social situations.’

It is not clear from the existing research why the brain changes when someone is lonely.

It is thought that pathways which allow someone to empathise with others may be lost by lack of use.

But the change to the part of the brain that allows people to put themselves in other people’s shoes can isolate them even further.

Speaking after her presentation, Professor Brennan said: ‘This seems to lead to social withdrawal, where you feel less empathetic towards people, so you do not engage.

‘When someone tells you something, for example, you nod and smile at the appropriate times in that conversation.

‘But if your empathic centres are not firing as they should be, you are not going to be doing these things and may appear socially inept and odd.

‘That’s where these assumptions come from about why people are lonely, but they are not to blame. It is a vicious circle.’

The conference heard that there are evolutionary reasons for loneliness, which acts as a trigger to encourage people to find company or a partner, so that they can reproduce, which ensures the continuation of the human race.

However, those who are chronically lonely are at risk because the heightened physical symptoms of loneliness, including sleeplessness and high blood pressure, put them at greater risk of heart disease and early death.

Marcus Rand, chief executive of the Campaign to End Loneliness, presented research at Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth yesterday which shows three-quarters of GPs see one to five patients a day who have come in simply because they are lonely.

The health issue, which speakers compared in severity to obesity and smoking, is believed to cost the NHS £12,000 per person for GP and hospital appointments. Edinburgh-based charity Befriending Networks, which hosted the summit, represents 250 befriending services, which help lonely and isolated people.

Minister for social security Jeane Freeman yesterday signed a pledge to tackle loneliness in Scotland.

‘Socially inept and odd’