Social isolation refers to limited contact and participation with others, while loneliness is a subjective experience of feeling disconnected from the world around them. While the two are not the same, a new study published in the journal Nature Communications has found that both are associated with fewer healthy years of life.
On average, loneliness and social isolation cost people around six disease-free years, taking a toll on both physical and mental health, researchers found after analysing data from over 270,000 adults between the ages of 40 and 69.
