Health Tip – Audio Version - Lonely
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Loneliness Boosts Blood Pressure in Older Adults (healthfinder® – Department of Health & Human Services)

Loneliness is not just a bad feeling. It may be bad for many people’s health. Researchers say middle aged and older people are more likely to have high blood pressure if they’re lonely.

The researchers looked at blood pressure and what 229 Chicago-area people were feeling. Louise Hawkley of the University of Chicago says that, the more lonely people were, the higher their blood pressure was. At the extremes:

“If you compared the least lonely with the most lonely, you could have as much as a 30-millimeter difference in blood pressure – which is a lot.”

Enough that loneliness sometimes could explain why someone had high blood pressure.

She says we are social animals, so it’s worth getting out to be with people we like.

Hawkley’s study in Pschology and Aging was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006