According to the National Institute on Aging, the health risks of prolonged isolation are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Research suggests that lower levels of social integration can reduce a person's lifespan by up to 15 years. Individuals who experience social isolation or loneliness are at a higher risk of being admitted to nursing homes and visiting the emergency room. Social isolation and loneliness can lead to insufficient exercise and poor sleep. This increases the risks of stroke (32%), heart disease (29%), mental health issues (26%), and premature mortality (26%), among other serious conditions. Another study found that being alone most of the time may contribute to a decline in the ability to perform everyday tasks such as climbing stairs or walking. Social connection can help people live longer and healthier lives.
Since the 1980’s, North Americans have gotten less face-to-face social time with others. Simultaneously, the prevalence of loneliness has dramatically increased. And more recently, before the COVID-19 pandemic, one in four people older than age 65 experienced social isolation, putting them at a greater risk of loneliness. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified these feelings of loneliness. A University of Michigan poll found 56% of adults ages 50 to 80 reported feelings of isolation in June 2020. It shows twice the percentage of seniors who reported feelings of loneliness in 2018, when only 27% of respondents reported feelings of isolation.
Social isolation and loneliness may also be bad for brain health and have been linked to poorer cognitive function and higher risk for dementia (by 50%), including and especially Alzheimer’s disease. Unlike mental health disorders such as depression, social isolation and loneliness often aren’t diagnosed. However, they still can promote negative cognitive and physical health effects.
Social needs represent the third level in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. They refer to the need that humans have for social interaction and community engagement to thrive. Everyone needs social interaction, but not all people have the same level of need or kind of need. Social needs are also referred to as ‘love and belonging needs.’ Examples include love, intimacy, friendship, family, feedback, acceptance, and belonging.
Psychologists Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary proposed what they called the “belongingness hypothesis”: that human beings have a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum number of lasting, positive, and significant relationships. Failing to meet this need results in significant drops in well-being. Two criteria define what actually satisfies the drive. First, you need frequent interactions that feel pleasant. Second, those interactions need to happen within stable relationships where both people genuinely care about each other’s welfare. Casual contact with strangers or fleeting online exchanges don’t fully satisfy either criterion.
A person may find themselves in a group and feel a sense of not belonging. Sometimes, individuals within the group may clearly indicate that they do not want the person to feel included. At times, a group may be welcoming, yet the new member might still feel excluded. This could be due to confusion or resistance regarding the roles the new member is expected to assume.
As sociologists Jonathan H. Turner and Jan E. Stets summarize this approach, “Individuals are, in essence, dramatic actors on a stage playing parts dictated by culture, and, like all theatre, they are given some dramatic license in how they play roles, as long as they do not deviate too far from the emotional script provided by culture.” When there is confusion or dislike of the roles expected of a person, they don’t get the positive results that their social interaction would ordinarily provide. This can occur when a person marries into a family with different expectations regarding roles.
Many times, social isolation and loneliness are used interchangeably. The two are connected, but different.
- Social isolation is the lack of social contacts and having few people to interact with regularly. An individual can live alone and not feel lonely or socially isolated, just as someone can feel lonely while being with other people.
- Loneliness is the feeling of being alone, regardless of the amount of social contact.
People who are lonely experience emotional pain. Losing a sense of connection and community can change the way an individual sees the world. Someone experiencing chronic loneliness can feel vulnerable and mistrustful of others. Emotional pain can activate the same stress responses in the body as physical pain. When this occurs over a long period of time, it can lead to chronic inflammation and reduced immunity. This raises the risk of chronic diseases.
Humans need social interaction because it is a biological requirement, not just a preference. Your brain, immune system, and stress response all developed to function within a social context, and when that context disappears, your body deteriorates in measurable ways. A study of over 2 million adults found that social isolation increases mortality risk by 32%, while loneliness raises it by 14%. The World Health Organization urges policymakers to prioritize social health alongside physical and mental well-being.
At its essence, social interaction is a dynamic series of actions where individuals adjust their behaviour in response to each other. This straightforward definition highlights a significant truth: we do not act in isolation. When two or more people engage meaningfully, they create something greater than themselves—a social reality that influences how they think, feel, and behave.
Comparing social isolation to smoking has helped to raise awareness of social isolation specifically and social disconnection broadly as important public health issues. However, this analogy often oversimplifies the evidence.
Cross-review comparisons suggest that lower levels of social integration, such as social isolation and loneliness, and cigarette smoking are equally significant predictors of premature mortality. This claim has been circulated by policy organizations and reported extensively in the media. However, it seems that poor social integration is actually less strongly associated with total mortality than cigarette smoking. Establishing precise percentages is challenging, as lonely individuals may be more likely to smoke, and those who smoke may experience greater loneliness.
The link between less in-person social interaction and loneliness is evident; however, the exact amount of interaction needed to prevent loneliness remains uncertain. While individuals vary significantly in many aspects, it is clear that a certain level of social integration is essential for the well-being of us all.