*Loneliness increases your BPLack of connection with others not only makes us unhappy but it is also bad for the wellbeing of your body, research finds.The psychologists found that there is a direct relation between loneliness and larger increases in blood pressure four years later—a link that is independent of age and other factors such as smoking and obesity.It is also not linked to depression and stress."Loneliness behaved as though it is a unique health-risk factor in its own right," said the researcher Dr Louise Hawkley in the journal Psychology and Ageing.Dr Hawkley, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, has been doing pioneering work on the impact of loneliness on health and quality of life issues.High blood pressure, often called a silent threat as it has few symptoms, undermines health in many ways.It increases the risk for heart attack and stroke and impairs kidney function. A systolic blood pressure measurement greater than 140mm, also called hypertension, is the most common primary diagnosis in the United States and is the primary or contributing cause of about 18 per cent of deaths in this country.The team based its research on a study of 229 people aged 50 to 68. The randomly chosen group were part of a long-term study on ageing.Members of the group were asked a series of questions to determine if they perceived themselves as lonely.They were asked to rate connections with others through a series of topics, such as "I have a lot in common with the people around me," "My social relationships are superficial" and "I can find companionship when I want it."During the five-year study, Dr Hawkley found a clear connection between feelings of loneliness reported at the beginning of the study and rising blood pressure over that period."The increase associated with loneliness wasn't observable until two years into the study, but then continued to increase until four years later," she said.Even people with modest levels of loneliness were impacted. Among all the people in the sample, the loneliest people saw their blood pressure go up by more than 10 per cent or 14.4mm more than the blood pressure of their most socially contented counterparts over the four-year study period.Lonely people's apprehension about social connections may underlie the blood pressure increase. - Daily Telegraph* *
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