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Loneliness Is a Warning Sign to Be Social

Loneliness spurs the brain into a hyper-vigilant state, unable to relax. The lonely brain doesn’t passively take the world in, but actively interprets it as an unfriendly place.“Nighthawks” (1942)  by Edward Hopper / Wikicommons

In 2002, a group of adults aged 50 and over answered a series of questions about their physical and mental health. A subset of the questions went as follows.

How often do you feel …

1) A lack of companionship

2) Left out

3) Isolated from others

The adults rated their answers on a scale of 0-3 with “hardly ever or never” to “often.” Three points or more qualified that person as “lonely.” Six years passed. In 2008, the researchers followed up with

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