65 testify to feeling forlorn at some time in their lives. It is more a state of mind than an experience. It is usually a complex unpleasant emotion, which includes anxious feelings that extend into future experiences. Loneliness can be felt by people with many friends and close relatives who spend time with them. It is a psychological mechanism that alerts people of their isolative tendencies and motivates them to connect with others. It also motivates people to form and maintain social connections essential for the endurance of their genes and ultimately the survival of the human species. For up to 30% of the populace, loneliness is a persistent state, which if left unattended has serious consequences for their health. This essay reviews the corporeal and psychological health consequences of loneliness taking into consideration the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral effects and the predisposing genetic qualities, which may result in early death.
Implications of loneliness on social interactions and health
Recent findings indicate that loneliness predicts an increase in morbidity and death. The effects of seclusion ensue over time and hasten psychological aging. For example, loneliness has shown direct correlation with cardiovascular health risks, especially in young adults (Burleson et al). These individuals have a high cardiovascular health risk because of the increased systolic blood pressure. When these conditions persist over time, it accelerates the rate of blood pressure increase. Studies also indicate an increased rate of mortality in individuals with chronic loneliness. A study conducted by the National Health and Nutrition Survey indicate that women with a high frequency of chronic loneliness have a higher incident of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). These Individuals also experience depressive symptoms and an increased risk of cardiovascular related mortality (Killeen 762).
The most puzzling part of the human experience is how one in a crowd of seven billion people manages to feel lonely. This is possible because people are divided into groupings subconsciously. These groups are further divided into subgroups and so forth until finally one individual is left alone. Every person in the universe is unique in his or her own way. If the focus were on how one is different from the others, the classification would continue until every individual falls into their own classification: different from the others. When one and the society focus on the differences, eventually a person feels as the ‘odd one out, resulting in loneliness. In the novel A Christmas carol by Charles Dickens, Scrooge is evil and often stimulates the feeling of hate in the reader. However, this changes when he sobs after the ghost tells him of the child left in school by his friends, "The school is not quite deserted," said the Ghost. "A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still." (2.51-52). This is common, especially in schools because people divide themselves into groupings and often the members of the group dislike those who do not fit in. For example, smoking is a common habit nowadays. There are smokers and non-smokers. This automatically divides people into smokers and non-smokers.
The major consequence of loneliness in an individual is the low capability to self-regulate. The capability to self-control is important in accomplishing personal goals and adhering to social norms. Loneliness impairs this capacity resulting in the individual feeling as if external forces control his or her actions. In a listening task, for example, an individual with a dominate right side automatically assigns the role of listening to the dominate right side. This enhances latent responses to instructions received through the left ear. People suffering from loneliness are more likely to carry out instructions received through the non-dominate left ear. The automatic listening is not impaired in the dominate right ear side; however, effortful listening in the left ear side is greatly impaired (Hutchinson & Charles 3).
The capacity to regulate in the arena of lifestyle behavior is of importance to health. Regulating emotions enhances the ability to regulate other behaviors. Loneliness diminishes the likelihood to perform health-promoting behavior, such as physical activity. Physical activity is a defensive behavior for physical, cognitive, and psychological health. Loneliness is a risk aspect for health and life threatening conditions, such as obesity and contributes, to a great extent, to the abuse of alcohol and other drugs. It not only affects an individual when awake but also when asleep. Sleep offers physiological restoration from the challenges of everyday life. Sleep deprivation has adverse effects on cardiovascular functioning and metabolic risk factors. It also increases chances of hypertension, coronary artery calcification, and mortality (Hutchinson & Charles 5). Loneliness not only affects the sleep quantity but also sleep quality, which is a rarely appreciated factor. Poor sleep quality results in daytime impairment, cognitive, and memory problems.
Many life events cause loneliness, including loss of friendship, especially during childhood and adolescence. Loneliness is also a symptom of another problem, such as chronic depression. Most people encounter it at a very young age when left alone by their parents. It is also a consequence of divorce, breakups, which may result in an individual feeling invisible or left out. In a Christmas carol by Charles Dickens, Scrooge expresses his feeling to his friend by saying, "How it is that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell. I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day" (1.155). Loneliness often arises from poor communication, especially in marriages and friendships in which the feelings predominating are resentment and anger. Loneliness is also a social phenomenon that is capable of spreading like a disease throughout the population. When one individual in a group feels lonely, this puts the people that he associates with at risk of experiencing loneliness.
Recent studies indicate an increase in loneliness, especially in the urban modern societies (Hawkley & Cacioppo 221). One study indicates that up to 12% of Americans lack a close friend to discuss important issue in their life with or to spend free time. The modern society is characterized by migration as people seek employment opportunities and better living conditions. A certain percentage of the loneliness is a result of the increased rate of migration and the smaller families ideal in the urban societies. The media is also to blame for the high rate of loneliness. People are increasing their consumption of media material, especially the youth (Killeen 770). The effects of loneliness are more evident in individuals living in suburban areas of the city. The senior in the society are most affected, especially when they lose the ability to drive and meet with friends. A recent study in America found that up to 19% of the population has only one person to confide in; often their spouse. This increases the risk of loneliness if the relationship were to end. The modern office environment is another source of loneliness for most people, especially for people who are prone to social isolation. Persons prone to social isolation are more likely to interpret the serious work attitude of their workmates and as a tactic to ignore them.
Loneliness is a mental condition that results from the failure to achieve the desired level of social interaction. Loneliness is not solitude because people may lack human contact but so long as they not think themselves lonely, they are not lonely. Loneliness often occurs in two forms: transient or chronic. Transient loneliness is temporary and often results in changes, such as a disease or relocation to a new neighborhood. Chronic loneliness is more permanent because the cause of the loneliness is with the particular individual. A person suffering from chronic loneliness continues to experience loneliness even when in social gatherings with many friends and family. Proponents of the existentialist school of thought view loneliness as a human condition that is the essence of the human being. This view is coined on the basis that every person regardless of social economic status, religion, race, or geographic location comes to this world alone, lives his or her life as a separate individual, and dies alone (Killeen 769). The ability to live with this fact and have a fulfilling life is the human condition.
Most people who experience loneliness often employ some coping strategies to counter the effects. With the high penetration of technology in the modern society, people are able to meet and interact with new people through the internet without the confines that face-to-face interaction imposes. This is especially common with adolescents who experiment with different personalities and identities on the Internet. Research supports that over half of the teenagers have posed as someone else on the internet while communicating on popular chat sites, such as face book, e-mail, and instant messaging. Loneliness often results in a reluctance to take social risks, and feelings of sadness and hopelessness. Online interaction eliminates the high risk that most lonely people perceive in face-to-face interaction. It therefore provides an alternative thus enabling them to cope with their loneliness (Killeen 768). In the oval portrait by Edgar Allan, he describes the life of a man who living alone in a house finding pleasures in details, such as the portrait of a young woman in his bedroom (Edgar & Gordon). The lack of social interaction in the real world situations often results in an increased engagement with the online world to fulfill the need for social and emotional interaction.
Loneliness has a remarkable influence on the cognitive and emotional processes of the human body. It is related to various problems in the human body including; psychosis and personality disorders, weakened cognitive performance, suicidal behaviors, cognitive slowdown over time, greater threat of Alzheimer syndrome, increased depression symptoms, and reduced control. Aloneness also increases the possibilities of having depression and enlarges perceived stress, fear, anger, anxiety, and reduces self-esteem and optimism in individuals. A supposed feeling of shared connectedness serves as a gibbet for individuality. Damaging this scaffold leads to a crumbling experience of the self. A more specific disturbing result of social isolation is a cognitive reduction and dementia (Cohen and Jack, 156).
Loneliness brings a horrible feeling of emptiness, which creeps in and causes distress to individuals at any age. It can be unbearable, especially to the elderly, and may envisage serious health problems that may result to death. For example, in Frankenstein, The monster’s rage ultimately develops to a point where he wishes to harm the family of his creator (Shelley,52). This is what makes Dr. Frankenstein chase the monster wanting to destroy it. Loneliness in this context does not merely imply being alone. The elderly, for example, often face many psychological, physical, and social responsibility changes, which confront their sense of individuality and capacity to live blissfully. Majority of the people experience feelings of loneliness and isolation at old age, and this is a reason why depression cases are many among the elderly (Laura, 66). These cases arise because of being alone for long hours, or lack of close relatives as well as reduced links with their original cultures, which leads to inability to energetically engage in community activities. With progressing age, it is certain that people lose association with friendship groups. They also find it more complicated to start new friendships.
Loneliness can occur in six major forms. First, there is the interpersonal loneliness that arises because of losing an important, or a personal relationship. This is what happens to the Frankensteins monster after Dr. Frankenstein abandons him. There is also social loneliness, which occurs when a person is on the periphery of a group, barred out of a group or even aggressively rejected. The monster in Shelleys novel is rejected by the society in which Frankenstein lives. Additionally, almost everyone attacks him and he is injured even though he meant no harm. Due to the rejection, he lives in isolation, which makes him grow angry towards the society. Victor Frankenstein also faces a similar rejection from the society for creating the monster, and this makes him run away in isolation to avoid the consequences. Cultural loneliness is yet another form isolation. People who experience cultural loneliness are those who after living in a totally diverse culture feel that they do not fit or belong in the new culture that they get subjected to (Laura, 67). Intellectual loneliness on the other hand, is a type of loneliness in which individuals feel educationally or intellectually out of sync with the rest of the people. Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton were two intellects in Shelleys novel. Both felt like they did not belong to the same academic level with the rest of the people. Victor even goes ahead to create his own creature and give it life, a being that many, including Victor, rejected. The fifth type of loneliness is psychological loneliness. Individuals experiencing this type of loneliness have distress that alienates them from the other people around them; something that others cannot completely understand. Finally, cosmic or existential loneliness is a type of loneliness that is felt by a person experiencing death (Laura, 68). Loneliness is one misery that is hard to deal with, and to some extent, all individuals experience one of the aforementioned forms of loneliness at different stages in life. Others feel a mixture of different forms of loneliness, but those feeling existential loneliness are possibly experiencing a horrific element. Strange things happen to people who experience any kind of loneliness. The lonelier they become, the less adept they grow at keeping up with social currents. As loneliness develops in them, a certain factor develops in them that prohibit contact, no matter the desire or urgency. Isolation is accretive, expands and perpetuates itself. A major part of feeling lonely is experiencing rejection, which is the most detrimental element.
To counter the physiological impacts of the challenges posed by emotional, behavioral, and cognitive effects of loneliness, sleeping provides ample restoration. Tentative sleeping deficiency has negative effects on the inflammatory status, cardiovascular performance, and metabolic processes. Loneliness increases the feelings of susceptibility and awareness of social intimidation, implied cognitions that are adverse to rest and sound sleep (Cohen and Jack, 28). Loneliness and deprived social interaction have been found to cause meager sleep quality and dysfunction during daytime. Therefore, having an adequate sleeping time reduces the health consequences related to isolation.
Social isolation and lonesomeness puts one at a risk of early death. Social relationships offer emotional support to an individual, and this is very important to an individual because such connections offer advice, support in various activities (Cohen and Jack, 159). In Frankenstein, the monster lacks social support from people (Shelley, 82). Although he looked ugly, there should have been at least a person who would have realized that in order to co-exist well among other people; he needed the advice on how to live within the society. His creator failed in this, and this could be the reason that caused the monster so much anger that he even killed his creators brother. Just as scientists once knew that contagious illnesses killed, but did not recognize that germs spread them, science has established intuitively that loneliness speeds up death, but hasnt been able to clarify how. Psycho-biologists are able to show that solitude sends false hormonal gestures, re-jiggers the genetic make-up that control behavior, and wrenches a slay of other structures out of their normal performance. They have confirmed that long-term loneliness not only makes one unwell; it can kill them. Emotional separation is graded as high a menace factor for death as smoking.
Themes are often contained in literature to supply better understanding and more meaning of the text. Shelley transmits the theme of loneliness and isolation through featured characters and their actions. Almost all characters in the novel exhibit it, from Dr. Frankenstein, to the monster, to Robert Walton, among others. For example, the abandonment of the monster by Dr. Frankenstein led to the monsters loneliness, which resulted to violence and damages. In the novel, feelings of loneliness lead to aggression, mainly between Dr. Frankenstein and the monster (Shelley, 91). Throughout the novel, Shelley uses her characters to lay emphasis on loneliness and isolation, which the reader understands originates from her personal life and the troubles with her father as well as her husband. Shelley incorporates these experiences of her personal life into the novel to make it more captivating and realistic. Loneliness, as depicted by Shelley, only results in despair. The conditions of isolation experienced by Victor Frankenstein and the monster he created stimulate diverse responses from the two. Frankenstein faces isolation for several reasons, for example, when he is trounced by negative emotions and thoughts; he seeks places of loneliness and isolation (Shelley, 37). This is marked by the incidence he states that; ...At these moments I took refuge in the most perfect solitude. I passed whole days on the lake alone in a small boat. But the fresh air and bright sun seldom failed to restore me to some degree of composure.
Problems with the aspect of loneliness in humans are associated with greater differences in gene activity. Some genes such as the ones that entail inflammation are more vigorous in lonely individuals. Other genes especially those associated with antiviral defense are less active. However, human researches do not disclose whether there exist a direct causal relationship between the variations in genetic activity and loneliness (Cohen and Jack, 103). This may be attributed to the fact that loneliness is both unique and complex for each person. Loneliness is caused by a myriad of factors, therefore, the treatments or preventions for the condition vary considerably. As stated earlier, loneliness does not always imply being alone. Instead, it implies the sensitivity of being emotionally isolated that matters most. For example, though many people in the society surrounded Frankenstein, he still felt alone and felt the urge to stay away from them. It is not the amount of social relationships that ends loneliness, but the quality of social interaction. Having only three or four very close peers is sufficient to wade off loneliness, and reduce the fatal effects associated with it
Conclusion
Humans are actively social beings. Indeed, the survival of human beings in complex physical environments appears to prefer a social group setting. Social relationships with friends, tribe, or family promote social afflictive behavior that facilitates the possibility of reaching a reproductive age. The relationships that humans develop amongst themselves both at individual and social levels enhance the chances of surviving in hostile or difficult situations. Individual sociality is always prominent even in the modern distinctive societies. A major part of the time spent by humans is usually spent with friends, relatives, and fellow tribesmen. Such time is perceived to be more rewarding and productive than the one spent alone. Humans perceive social isolation even when shared opportunities do subsist, but they usually lack the ability to harness the control of social connection in day-to-day life. Persistent perceived loneliness is portrayed by destruction of cognition, attention, behavior, and effects that influence mortality and morbidity through their adverse impacts on neural, hormonal and genetic mechanisms that are part and parcel making a complete human being. Interventions to curb the human burden of loneliness will play a significant role to allow for the evolutionary design of humans as a social group.
Works cited
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