Social isolation was associated with about a 50% increased risk of dementia.
Lonely people ages 60 to 79 were three times more likely to develop dementia than their counterparts who did not report feeling lonely. Loneliness also was associated with smaller brain sizes and poorer executive function skills (such as the ability to plan, focus attention, and remember instructions).
The study also found that loneliness was associated with poorer executive function—such as a group of cognitive processes including decision-making, planning, cognitive flexibility, and control of attention—and changes in the brain that indicate vulnerability to Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Social isolation linked to an increased risk of dementia, new study finds. Socially isolated older adults have a 27% higher chance of developing dementia, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins.
Cognitive Decline and Dementia
In the case of the elderly experiencing long-time loneliness, it's often manifested as cognitive decline and poorer overall cognitive performance. Additionally, studies show that social isolation and senior loneliness result in the onset of various forms of dementia.
If you've experienced ongoing feelings of loneliness, it can have negative effects on your physical health. It could lead to weight gain, sleep deprivation, poor heart health, and a weakened immune system. Loneliness can also put your body under more stress than normal.
"Lacking encouragement from family or friends, those who are lonely may slide into unhealthy habits," Valtorta says. "In addition, loneliness has been found to raise levels of stress, impede sleep and, in turn, harm the body. Loneliness can also augment depression or anxiety."
Some people with dementia choose to live alone. You may feel happier and more in control in your own home, where you can keep your routines and stay in your community. Keeping your independence may also be important to you. Some people live alone because of their circumstances.
The biggest risk factor for dementia is ageing. This means as a person gets older, their risk of developing dementia increases a lot. For people aged between 65 and 69, around 2 in every 100 people have dementia. A person's risk then increases as they age, roughly doubling every five years.
As dementia progresses it is common to experience memory loss, confusion, difficulty with language, problems with thinking, judgement, and decision-making. People with dementia should not be living alone without care if they are suffering any cognitive impairment that could lead to them coming to any harm at home.
"Loneliness can change the neurochemistry of the brain, turning off the dopamine neurons, which trigger the reward response, and causing some degeneration in the brain when the reward response is not activated," says Katherine Peters, MD, PhD, FAAN, associate professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Duke University.
Assessment of loneliness
It is a 20-item survey that is measured on a 4-point scale (1=never, 2=rarely, 3=sometimes, and 4=always). The lowest total score is 20 and the highest total score is 80; a high score indicates greater levels of loneliness.
A number of studies have demonstrated a link between loneliness and dementia – a recent Dutch study stated those who suffer from loneliness have a 64% greater risk of developing clinical dementia. It is a sad reality that loneliness can both increase our risk of dementia, and be increased by dementia.
Whatever the cause, it's shockingly easy to be left feeling alone and vulnerable, which can lead to depression and a serious decline in physical health and wellbeing. Someone who's lonely probably also finds it hard to reach out.
Receiving a life-changing dementia diagnosis doesn't strip a person of their humanity or personhood. People with dementia think about the same things that any human thinks about — emotions, relationships, daily life, tasks to accomplish, and more.
Persons with dementia may lose their sense of self-worth and feel depersonalized, depressed, and angry when healthy persons behave in manners that can be classified as “malignant positioning” (28–30).
Most dementia patients prefer to stay in their own home as long as possible. This is usually feasible in the early stages of the disease when the individual only requires basic care, such as food preparation, assistance with personal care and cleaning, and other household tasks.
The upshot is that while alone time has many physical, emotional and spiritual benefits when enjoyed in moderation, spending too much time alone can damage the mind and body. We function best when there's a balance, when we spend healthy time alone, and at the same time nurture our close relationships.
When someone feels lonely they are more likely to try to distract themselves with the other things in their lives. So if your colleague is always talking about their stamp collection, or always flying away on exotic solo city breaks rather than spending weekends at home, they might be feeling alone.
A brain imaging study showed that feeling ostracized actually activates our neural pain matrix. In fact, several studies show that ostracizing others hurts us as much as being ostracized ourselves. We can hypothesize that, similarly, loneliness is associated with the pain matrix.