This Is Why Modern Living Is So Bad For The Heart

This social epidemic increases heart disease risk by 30 percent.

This social epidemic increases heart disease risk by 30 percent.

Loneliness increases the risk of heart disease by 30 percent, research finds.

Coronary heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death in rich countries.

The conclusions come from a review of 23 studies including over 181,000 adults.

The researchers found that social isolation or loneliness was linked to a 32 percent increase in stroke risk and 29 percent increase of a heart or angina attack.

The study’s authors write:

“Our work suggests that addressing loneliness and social isolation may have an important role in the prevention of two of the leading causes of morbidity in high income countries.”

Writing in a linked editorial, psychologists Dr Julianne Holt-Lunstad and Dr Timothy Smith, say:

“With such rapid changes in the way people are interacting socially, empirical research is needed to address several important questions.

Does interacting socially via technology reduce or replace face to face social interaction and/or alter social skills?

Given projected increases in levels of social isolation and loneliness in Europe and North America, medical science needs to squarely address the ramifications for physical health.

Similar to how cardiologists and other healthcare professionals have taken strong public stances regarding other factors exacerbating [cardiovascular disease], eg smoking, and diets high in saturated fats, further attention to social connections is needed in research and public health surveillance, prevention and intervention efforts.”

The studies were published in the journal Heart (Valtorta et al., 2016Holt-Lunstad & Smith, 2015).


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Hello, and welcome to PsyBlog. Thanks for dropping by.

This site is all about scientific research into how the mind works.

It’s mostly written by psychologist and author, Dr Jeremy Dean.

I try to dig up fascinating studies that tell us something about what it means to be human.

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Author: Jeremy Dean

Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology. He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004. He is also the author of the book "Making Habits, Breaking Habits" (Da Capo, 2013) and several ebooks.