Did you know that feeling lonely could be harmful to your heart?
Especially if you have diabetes.
A new study says that loneliness is a bigger risk for heart disease in people with diabetes than diet, exercise, smoking, and even depression.
The Importance of Social Contact
Professor Lu Qi of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, led the study.
He said that the quality of social contact seems to be more important for heart health in people with diabetes than the number of social interactions.
He also encouraged lonely patients with diabetes to join groups or classes and make friends.
The Impact of Loneliness
Loneliness and social isolation have been getting more attention in research lately. This is especially true since the COVID-19 pandemic and our increasing use of digital technology.
Loneliness is about how good your social contacts are. Isolation is about how many social contacts you have.
Humans are social creatures. We need the company of others and meaningful social relationships for our health. We want to belong to a family, a group of friends, a community. These social interactions are very important for our physical and mental health.
Why is this Important for Diabetic Patients?
People with diabetes are more likely to have heart disease. They’re also more likely to feel lonely than healthy people.
Past research has shown that both loneliness and social isolation can increase the risk of heart disease.
But this new study wanted to see if lonely or isolated patients with diabetes were more likely to develop heart disease than those who were not.
What the Study Showed
The study involved over 18,000 adults with diabetes in the UK. None of them had heart disease at the start of the study.
The researchers used questionnaires to measure loneliness and isolation. They then tracked the participants for an average of 10.7 years to see who developed heart disease.
During this time, over 3,200 participants developed heart disease. The researchers found that the risk of heart disease was 11% to 26% higher in those who were lonely.
This was even after considering other factors that could affect heart disease risk, such as age, sex, body weight, medications, physical activity, diet, alcohol, smoking, and how well their diabetes was managed.
Interestingly, they found that loneliness was a bigger risk factor for heart disease than depression, smoking, physical activity, and diet.
They also found that lonely patients with poor physical health factors (like uncontrolled blood sugar or high blood pressure) had a higher risk of heart disease than those who were not lonely.
What this Means for Patients
These findings suggest that doctors should ask their diabetic patients about feelings of loneliness. If patients do feel lonely, they could be referred to mental health services for help.
After all, taking care of our mental health is just as important as taking care of our physical health.
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If you care about mental health, please read studies about 6 foods you can eat to improve mental health, and B vitamins could help prevent depression and anxiety.
For more information about mental health, please see recent studies about how dairy foods may influence depression risk, and results showing Omega-3 fats may help reduce depression.
The study was published in European Heart Journal.
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