Social Isolation

Social integration and close social ties are the single greatest predictor of human longevity, surpassing diet, exercise, and geographic location. The article says protection against mortality-linked loneliness depends on connection quality and depth, not social-contact volume. Social alienation was strongly negatively correlated with dietary management KAP scores. Lower social alienation was associated with better KAP. The article distinguishes harmful perceived loneliness from solitude chosen by preference. Chosen solitude in an introvert is described as biologically different from unwanted isolation in a lonely extrovert. Participants had a moderate degree of social alienation. Participants who took Tylenol for two weeks before a social exclusion experiment showed measurably reduced social pain responses compared to those on placebo. The average number of close friends Americans have outside family declined from approximately three in 1985 to roughly two by 2004. Social exclusion activates nearly identical neural regions as physical pain, to the degree that brain scans cannot be reliably distinguished. Social network research by Christakis and Fowler shows that health outcomes…