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Sleep is a fundamental biological process, essential to human health and performance. However, currently, 10–30% of people in developed countries suffer from prolonged insomnia due to factors including electric light, shift work, digital revolution... in contrast. with an incidence of 1.5–2.5% reported in indigenous groups living traditionally in Africa. Accordingly, a recent study found that loneliness and social isolation are linked to sleep problems in older men and women.
1. Loneliness, isolation from society
In the studies that have been conducted, loneliness is defined as an emotional state that arises when the person himself perceives the difference between the levels of social interaction, the absence of companionship or support desired spirit. Meanwhile, social isolation is defined by having little or no social interaction with others. So a person can be socially isolated but not alone and vice versa.
Loneliness is associated with reduced physical health, increased mortality, depression and alcohol consumption rates. In particular, social isolation, living alone will exacerbate these problems. However, the effects of loneliness and social isolation on sleep problems among older adults in the community are not well understood nor have they been extensively studied.
2. Loneliness causes insomnia
Sleep problems, loneliness and social isolation often increase with age, significantly affecting the health and well-being of older adults. However, empirical evidence on general population health is scant.
Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyzes were performed on 140,423 assessments from 95,045 people (women 61.0%) in the living community aged 65 years and older to establish relationships between inadequate sleep sleep, oversleeping, loneliness and social isolation. Accordingly, insufficient sleep (female: 12.4%, male: 12.7%) was reported more commonly than oversleeping (female: 4.7%, male: 7.6%). Overall, 23.6% of women and 18.9% of men reported feeling very lonely, while 53.8% of women and 33.8% of men in the study currently live alone. .
In the analyses, people who are lonely and socially isolated are more likely to lose sleep because of loneliness, chronic insomnia. People who show signs of sleeping too much are more likely to be living with other people. Both loneliness and social isolation contribute to inadequate sleep and prolonged insomnia. Loneliness and social isolation can also influence the restorative properties of sleep and, more importantly, the effects of aging. In summary, loneliness leads to decreased sleep quality, causing disruptions in total sleep time or changes in daytime sleepiness.
Watch now: Loneliness can also be contagious
Cô đơn gây mất ngủ có thể là do cảm giác kém an toàn
3. Why does loneliness cause insomnia?
The researchers suggested that restless sleep, prolonged insomnia in lonely people could be due to feelings of insecurity, so the authors examined the impact of exposure to violence on past history, including criminal history, sexual abuse, child abuse, and violent tendencies.
The link between loneliness and poor sleep quality was almost 70% stronger in those who had experienced the most severe forms of violence, which is consistent with the suggestion that sleep problems in Loneliness is associated with feelings of insecurity.
This is explained by the fact that sleep is a state in which people themselves are not alert for their own safety. So feeling alone, isolated from others can make it harder for us to sleep, and even heavier for those who have experienced violence in the past.
Besides, controlling for other factors, especially depression, has the ability to reduce the association between loneliness and sleep disturbance, which can be found that this association is not independent of depression. However, management of depression alone does not suggest a reciprocal relationship between depression, loneliness, and sleep disturbance, and further research is needed to examine how loneliness and sleep disturbances occur. in the context of the patient's depression and other factors, such as age, race, and gender.
There is currently no solid evidence that age or gender contributes to the association between loneliness and sleep disturbances . However, there are still reports that as the aging process occurs, the quality and quantity of sleep will be continuously reduced, thereby increasing the rate of insomnia. Inadequate sleep has been linked to other health problems in the elderly including illness, breathing problems, drug use, mental health problems (depression), and substance abuse . Gender differences have also been reported, whereby subjective sleep quality is often worse in women than in men.
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References: webmd.com, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/, nature.com
