How loneliness and social isolation affect our mental health?

Before I start this blog post, let's first clearly explain that solitude and loneliness are two completely different things.

Solitude is when we want to isolate and enjoy being alone. Solitude helps us grow as people and brings peace, comfort, and everything nice.

Yet, loneliness is when we are alone but not having anything positive from it. When you are alone and craving company, then we can talk about loneliness.

In this article, I want to take a closer look to how social isolation, together with loneliness, can affect your mental health and overall well-being. 

1. Depression and anxiety. With time, you may start to feel that nothing make sense anymore. You will lose interest in daily activities that once brought joy. Anxiety can be much higher as well, especially social anxiety and even agoraphobia can appear. 

2. Stress. It is common for people to seek help and support from others. When you are surrounded by good and emotionally safe people, your mood will improve, as well as your overall well-being. When you don't feel like having support and being socially isolated, your emotional stress levels will become much higher. 

3. Problems with cognitive decline. This is not just a mental health issue, but with a lot of social isolation and loneliness you can even make your risks for dementia. Conversation with different, especially intelligent, creative, and good people will help you to keep your cognitive levels sharp. Surround yourself by inspiring people who lift you up. 

4. What about your confidence and self-esteem? These problems are common as well because you may lose a sense of belonging. Doubting self-worth is common with so much social isolation and loneliness. 

5. Fatigue without an obvious cause. You will feel tired a lot because the absence of social comfort can lead to rumination and overthinking, making it difficult to rest and recharge. Troubles with sleeping, such as insomnia, are not strange too. 

+ Substance abuse. Another problem that can appear are different kinds of addiction. You will try to fullfil your day and alone time this way. If you know someone who has troubles with addiction, read how you can help them here. 

Okay, now that we have saw how social isolation and loneliness can affect our mind and body, let's remind ourselves of the steps that will help us to create and maintain healthy relationships with others. 

Strengthening existing relationships is the first thing you can do.

If you don't like your current circle of people, think about engaging in new social activities. For example, those can be related to your hobbies or interests.

Volunteering or providing help for others can be helpful as well. This way, you will not only meet new and good people, but also find a purpose.

 
In the end, don't forget that technology too can help us to maintain relationships with the people we want.