Booster Shots is reporting that, in addition to exerting a psychological toll, loneliness may also adversely affect blood pressure:
Researchers noted an association between feelings of loneliness and high blood pressure. People who ranked as feeling most lonely had blood pressure levels 14.4 points higher than those who felt least lonely. Increases in systolic blood pressure were cumulative, so those who had higher levels of loneliness at the beginning of the study had greater blood pressure increases over the years. The findings held true when researchers accounted for factors such as age, race and ethnicity, gender, cardiovascular risk factors and depression.
The entry cites research from Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. That study appears in the March issue of Psychology and Aging.
