Named the dangerous effects of loneliness on the brain

A new study has shown that loneliness can reduce brain volume and increase the risk of dementia. Scientists from Japan studied MRI images of 8896 people aged 65 years and older. It turned out that people with the lowest level of social contacts have a significantly smaller brain size.

Social isolation in the elderly can lead to a decrease in brain volume, writes the Daily Mail. It was previously thought that a lack of social contact and the lack of brain stimulation that comes from talking lead to dementia.

The researchers wanted to understand how isolation affects the brain, so they examined 8,896 people aged 65 and over who underwent MRI scans.

Volunteers participating in the study were asked how often they had contact with relatives and friends who did not live with them, such as meeting or talking on the phone. Participants could choose an answer every day, several times a week, several times a month, or rarely.

The people with the lowest levels of social contact had a significantly smaller brain size compared to those with the most social contact.

Their total brain volume, which is the sum of white and gray matter as a percentage of total skull volume, was 67.3% in the lowest contact group compared to 67.8% in the highest contact group. They also had smaller brain volume in areas of the brain, including the hippocampus and amygdala, which play an important role in memory and are associated with dementia.

The hippocampus is one of the first areas affected by Alzheimer’s disease, explains the Daily Mail.

Perhaps the lack of social contact accelerates the gradual shrinkage of the brain that occurs as people age. However, isolated people also tend to lead more unhealthy lifestyles, which can be harmful to their brains.

Dr. Toshiharu Ninomiya, senior author of the study at Kyushu University in Japan, said: “Social isolation is a growing problem for older people. These results suggest that providing support to people who help them make and maintain their connections with others can be beneficial. to prevent brain atrophy and dementia.’

The association between lack of social contact and smaller brain size found in older Japanese was found to hold even when controlling for other factors that can influence the brain, including a person’s weight, smoking and alcohol habits, and whether they have diabetes.

But a study published in the journal Neurology notes that people who lose brain volume may experience personality changes, such as becoming more lethargic. This may cause them to see people less often, rather than more frequent human encounters causing brain changes.

Socially isolated people in the study also had more small areas of damage in the brain, called white matter lesions, than people with frequent social contact.

The proportion of intracranial volume formed by white matter lesions was 0.30% in the socially isolated group compared to 0.26% in the most socially connected group.

The researchers found that depression, which is associated with brain shrinkage, partly explains the relationship between social isolation and brain volume.

However, symptoms of depression explained only a small part of this outcome.

Dr. Ninomiya emphasizes: “While this study is a snapshot in time and does not determine that social isolation causes brain atrophy, some studies have shown that older people’s exposure to socially stimulating groups stopped or even reversed brain volume decline and improved thinking and memory skills. So it’s possible that interventions to improve people’s well-being could prevent brain volume loss and the dementia that often follows.”