I ’m so lonesome I could cry

After only the opening chords and one or two bars of that haunting melody, you probably recognize the old song by Hank Williams — the one with the lyrics that express a feeling almost all of us have experienced: Hear that lonesome whippoorwill He sounds too blue to fly. The midnight train is whining low I’m so lonesome I could cry. Although the song captures a common feeling, we now know it is not just a feeling, but a condition that has a very real effect on the body, and as it turns out is also a public health problem — so much so that as the new year turned in Great Britain, the issues of loneliness and social isolation were added to a ministerial portfolio. A survey study there showed that hundreds of thousands of people had not spoken to a friend or relative in a month — that’s a lot of silence in your life. Humans are social creatures. Among ourselves we form all kinds of complex alliances, affiliations, attachments, loves, and hates. If those connections break down, an individual risks health impacts throughout the body. The health risks of loneliness A brief list from recent research includes: increased risk of cardiovascular disease decreased cognitive and executive function (there is initial evidence of increased amyloid burden in the brains of the lonely) as high as a 26% increase in the risk of premature death from all causes decrease in the quality of sleep increased chronic inflammation and decreased inflammatory control (linked to the risk of cogniti...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Anxiety and Depression Behavioral Health Caregiving Healthy Aging Mental Health Source Type: blogs