The Brain on Loneliness

​The importance of social contact and meaning in life for healthy brains

Social connectedness is a critical factor for health and mental health. Recent research also shows how loneliness is processed in the brain why wisdom seems to be the counter side to loneliness and the risk of a vicious circle for lonely people.

Loneliness has been reported to be on the rise during the pandemic – understandably with the limited opportunities for social contact - but also tragically. Tragically because loneliness has been shown to have severe cognitive and well-being impacts. But counter intuitively just being alone does not predispose one to loneliness – so let’s review what does and doesn’t and what the impacts are on the brain.

In fact, there has been a spurt of recent research into the brain and loneliness mainly spurred on by the pandemic. I have written about some of these on my daily posts on Medium.

First, let’s differentiate between loneliness and aloneness.