{"id":4347,"date":"2024-01-18T15:26:52","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T14:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/fhse-en\/?post_type=news&p=4347"},"modified":"2024-03-01T05:24:16","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T04:24:16","slug":"of-loneliness-how-research-uncovers-facts-and-legends","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/fhse-en\/news\/of-loneliness-how-research-uncovers-facts-and-legends\/","title":{"rendered":"Of loneliness: how research uncovers facts and legends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201eWho feels lonely, dies early\u201c, an old German saying tells. There is truth behind the old insight: A large meta-analysis including 70 studies around the world concluded that people who feel lonely have a 26% higher risk of dying earlier than expected. The effects of feeling lonely are very real and very dangerous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nYoung generations mostly at risk\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Researchers can today refute a common belief that loneliness is a phenomenon that strikes mostly the elderly. Studies in France or Germany have shown that persons under 30 years report alarming rates of loneliness, in some cases up to 50%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the pandemic brought loneliness and its impact on health<\/a> to the attention of a wider public and on the map of political and social actors, it is only the tip of the iceberg. Societal changes and requirements have contributed to a rise in the perception of loneliness. Especially young people, who walk a mine field of changes to body, mind and life, need stable emotional and collective ties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cResearch shows digital contacts can buffer out the negative effects of loneliness over a longer period of time, such as under lockdown-conditions during the pandemic. This is especially true for younger people, as they are used to communicating on social media platforms\u201d, explains Prof. Claus V\u00f6gele<\/a>, Professor for Health Psychology. \u201cThis, however, becomes problematic if the digital replaces what could be a face-to-face relation. Large parts of interactions and communication signals evaporate during mediated contact, which will sooner or later lead to the digital contact being insufficient to fulfill our needs\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nUnderstanding factors of loneliness for better interventions\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the University of Luxembourg, Prof. V\u00f6gele, Dr Annika Lutz<\/a> and Doctoral candidate Julie Ortmann<\/a> work to find out why loneliness has detrimental effects on health. Only a better understanding of these mechanisms can lead to improved interventions against loneliness. They lead an experiment in the University\u2019s Clinical Psychophysiology Laboratory (CLIPSLAB)<\/a> in which participants\u2019 reactions to social exclusion are assessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this experiment, the participant is told that he or she is playing an online ball-tossing game with two other participants. At some point, the participant receives the ball less often than the other players\u201d, explains Dr. Lutz. \u201cWe measure the electrical brain activity of this participant, and after the game he or she is asked to respond to a questionnaire\u201d. The questionnaire assesses the extent to which the participant\u2019s social needs were satisfied, i.e., feelings of group adherence, relevance and interaction. When the participant felt excluded from the other participants during the online ball-tossing game, he or she stated in the questionnaire that his or social needs were less fulfilled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research team is currently analysing data from the measurements of brain activity, using that fact that the brain keeps track of the frequency of certain events. When the other players play among themselves and exclude the participant, a sudden inclusion will be unexpected and processed in a particularly strong way. This leaves a trace in the brain waves, showing that the brain noticed the exclusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loneliness should not be misunderstood as isolation or being alone. Loneliness is defined as the lack of relationships that a person needs or desires, when relations cannot fulfill our most basic, tribal need of being part of a group. Psychologists identify loneliness at the emotional level (lacking a person one shares intimacy with), the social level (lack of being part of a group) and the collective level (missing to be part of a larger community).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nMedia kit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n