By IANS
New York : American scientists have found that people who are lonely may face several serious health complications and die young.
Loneliness is an emotional state. Those who are lonely experience a powerful feeling of emptiness and isolation. It is already known that loneliness is bad for health.
The new study examined the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of about 22,000 people and found that those who described themselves as chronically lonely had weaker immune systems, reported the online edition of the Daily Mail.
Many earlier studies of large populations have shown that people who describe themselves as lonely or as having little social support are more likely to die prematurely and to have infections, high blood pressure, insomnia and cancer.
The new study by Steve Cole, a molecular biologist at the University of California and other researchers corroborated earlier findings. The findings of the new research said that lonely people are more likely to get sick and die young because it affects their immune systems.
“This study shows that the biological impact of social isolation reaches down into some of our most basic internal processes – the activity of our genes.” Cole said.
The findings that appeared in the journal Genome suggest that the loneliest people had unhealthy levels of chronic inflammation, which has been associated with heart and artery disease, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and other ailments.