Put Down The Phone and Tell Me That I Look Nice First Thing In The Morning
September 28, 2026 \ Edition 56
At least that is the implication of a new study from Tulane University. Researchers analyzed data from the UK Biobank of 277,489 adults, between the ages of 40 and 69, who began the study free of seven major chronic conditions: diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, dementia, cancer, depression and anxiety. They then measured how loneliness and social isolation affected how many disease-free years people could expect to live.
They found that loneliness and social isolation could have a significant negative impact on the number of healthy years people can expect to live. Among the people who were neither lonely nor socially isolated, women lived on average 2.4 more years free of physical disease, and 3.7 years free of mental disorder. The impact cumulatively was even greater on men: They lived 1.7 more years free of physical disease and 5.8 more years free of mental disorder. The large negative impact of loneliness and social isolation on mental health for men is particularly troubling since older men are a group particularly at risk in our modern society.
The researchers did identify healthy lifestyle (exercise and nutrition) as a useful way to reduce the impacts of social isolation but found that healthy lifestyle did not reduce the risks associated with loneliness.
