You can spend every day surrounded by other people and still feel lonely. You can also spend long periods alone without finding the experience distressing.
That difference may help explain why loneliness affects health differently from social isolation. In a new study, my colleagues and I found evidence that loneliness may contribute to poorer mental health and wellbeing, and to some measures of poorer general health. Social isolation appeared to have a narrower influence, with the clearest evidence involving poorer wellbeing.
