New research links loneliness to problems in the immune system response . Among other things, people who live alone show very high levels of proteins related to inflammation, indicative of chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis or Alzheimer's disease . In addition, those who spend most of their lives without company show a greater reactivation of latent herpes virus , which is known to be associated with stress, which indicates that the immune system of lonely people defends itself worse from external aggressions and from chronic stress situations.
Half of the people infected with the herpes virus never develop the disease, but the virus remains "asleep" within the body and can reactivate at any time. "This type of research is important because it allows us to understand how loneliness and human relationships affect health -and counteract it, if possible-", clarifies Lisa Jaremka, researcher at the Institute of Behavioral Medicine of the State University of Ohio (USA) and co-author of the work.
