Scientists have been studying the need for social connection in animals and humans, and their findings suggest that loneliness can have serious consequences for mental and physical health. A neuroscientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, Kay Tye, has been investigating loneliness and its effects on the brain. Her research has shown that certain neurons in the brain stem are active in mice that are isolated and then reunited with their siblings.

The Importance of Social Connection

Tye’s research suggests that social connection is a basic need, similar to hunger or thirst. When we don’t socialize enough, we feel the lack, and when we’ve had our fill of togetherness, we feel satisfied or quenched. The amount of socializing a creature needs may be particular to that species, and even to that individual. For example, beavers live with their immediate families, while starlings flock in huge murmurations.

Other researchers, such as Tim Clutton-Brock, an evolutionary biologist, have found that several factors can push species to become more or less social as they evolve. These factors include the need to keep warm, foraging, predation, and the need for help from others to raise young. Clutton-Brock’s research on meerkats in the Kalahari Desert has shown that these animals live in territorial groups and are visibly distressed when separated from their group.

The Consequences of Loneliness

Research has shown that loneliness can have serious consequences for mental and physical health. People who are socially isolated or feel lonely die sooner, and poor social connections are linked to heart disease and stroke. Certain female rats, when housed alone, are more likely to develop cancer. The researchers hope that their work will hold dividends for lonely humans and help to develop new treatments for loneliness.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.