Signs and Effects Of Loneliness
What Signs Can Lead to Loneliness?
- Social Media Usage: Always checking social media, on average all young adults go on social media at least 50 minutes per day.
- Amount of Time Spent In Dorm Room: When an individual spends 4 times a day in their room, not including sleeping at night. This decreases the chances of interacting with other people.
- Exhaustion: When one tries to avoid social activities because it causes exhaustion or anxiety to engage in social conversations.
- Isolation: When one feels separated because they do not have close friends or feel like they do not have a sense of belonging on their college campus.
Many incoming college students experience these signs of loneliness because they have to learn to adapt to the new environment. However, these signs are not limited to just new college students.
What are the Dangerous Effects?
Depression:
Loneliness is a key factor in developing depression because most of the time people that experience this lack a good support system.
Sleep:
People that experience loneliness struggle to get a good night’s sleep because they stress over how to socialize with others or worried about the quality of their current relationships.
Chronic Disease:
when experiencing loneliness, it can cause difficulties for people to makes good healthy decisions. Therefore this may result in increasing risk in developing heart disease, diabetes, and eating disorders.
Self Preservation:
Loneliness can not only affect you, but also how you act towards others. This is when your brain goes into self preservation mode, where it increases your bias towards situations. Thus, could cause you to be less empathetic towards others, and more defensive.
References:
Signs and Symptoms of Chronic Loneliness | Cigna. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2019, from https://www.cigna.com/individuals-families/health-
The Lonely College Student. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2019, from Psychology Today website: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/social-lights/201709/the-lonely-college-student
Cacioppo, J. T., & Patrick, W. (2008). Loneliness: Human nature and the need for social connection (p. 317). New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.