9 subtle signs that you're alone – even if it does not tempt you



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It has been proven that loneliness has a detrimental effect on your body and your well-being. This can lead to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, reduced immunity and depression – loneliness has even been declared a public health problem.

To stay healthy, maintaining relationships with family and friends is essential – there is a reason why "social" is a need in "The Sims".

However, even if you do not do it feel As if you were alone, keep an eye on these seemingly benign signs of loneliness: your body might try to tell you something.


You feel constantly tired.

A study published in 2011 linked loneliness with sleep fragmentation, defined as "awakenings and awakenings that disrupt normal sleep stages and architecture." In other words, it is impossible to sleep all night and wake up constantly.

If you think "Well, I always sleep all night, so that's not why I'm so tired," you might want to be more careful. The time you are awake may be so small that you do not realize it, or even if you do not remember it – but it stops you from completing a complete sleep cycle.

The study concluded that loneliness is a significant predictor of sleep fragmentation and that "lonely people do not sleep as well as people who feel more connected to others".


You care a lot about material goods.

Materialism and loneliness would also be linked: a study of 2,500 people over six years revealed that loneliness often motivates people to buy material things (but also points out that this does not work in the other direction – materialism does not cause loneliness).

So, if you suddenly find yourself obsessed with material goods and shop more than usual (fill a void, if you will), you could go through a difficult time.


You end up taking very long and hot showers.

In a study published in the scientific journal "Emotion", researchers discovered a link between physical and social "heat". Essentially, if a person is cold in society (that is, solitary), it will be more likely to replace emotional heat with heat by taking showers and hot baths.


You can not stop watching bulimic series.

A tendency to frenzy may indicate a few things: loneliness, depression and a lack of control. A study conducted at the University of Texas at Austin revealed that loneliness and excessive television episodes were closely related.

They found that "the more isolated and depressed the study participants were, the more likely they were to watch TV excessively, using this activity to distance themselves from negative feelings."


You are constantly making mountains of molehills.

If you feel as if you were more stressed than normal recently, you might feel lonely. According to Psychology Today, "Unattached individuals report higher levels of perceived stress even when they are exposed to the same stressors as non-lonely people, and even when they relax."

So, if your last two months have not been inherently more stressful than normal, but you feel as if you were extremely stressed by little things, it could be loneliness, which would increase your stress hormone levels and your blood pressure.


You spend a lot of time on social media.

One study found that intensive use of social media was associated with feelings of social isolation: those who spend more than two hours a day on social media are twice as likely to feel lonely than those who who spend less than 30 minutes on social media platforms.

However, the causal link is not clear: does loneliness cause an increase in the use of social media or does the use of them increase the sense of solitude? In both cases, "what we know at this point is that we have evidence that replacing your actual relationships with the use of social media is detrimental to your well-being," Holly Shakya, Assistant Professor at University of California in San Diego, told NPR.


You hang out with other single people.

A 2010 study found that loneliness "spreads through a contagious process". So, even if you do not feel alone, intuitively upsetting your social network could change that. In other words, if you have friends who are lonely, you are also more likely to feel lonely.

According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, you are 52% more likely to feel lonely if someone to whom you are directly connected is alone.


You have gained weight.

Since weight gain is one of the common side effects of depression, it is not surprising that weight gain could also mean loneliness.

Ashley Turner, a mental health advisor, told the UnLonely Project that "loneliness is one of the most important factors in overeating. We naturally turn to food to feed ourselves and feed ourselves. This is the most obvious way to fill up. However, when we are alone, we really need a small personal interaction, intimacy, love or friendship, someone to share our life with. "


There is an impression of constantly having a cold.

Loneliness can weaken the immune system and make you vulnerable to colds and other viruses. This can become a vicious circle, because staying at home with a cold will isolate you from others, increasing loneliness.

A study conducted by UCLA found that the immune system of unattached individuals focuses on bacteria rather than viruses, which means that unattached individuals are more susceptible to viral infections.

Loneliness can also lead to an increased risk of heart disease, arthritis, type 2 diabetes, dementia, high blood pressure, inflammation and even learning and learning problems. of memory, and constitutes a more serious risk to health than obesity or smoking.

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