Being the social creatures that we are, not too many people like the feeling of being lonely, and the impressions of loneliness strike a particularly painful cord in most people. The feelings of rejection and isolation that accompany loneliness can affect many aspects of our daily lives.

Now, researchers are beginning to obtain a greater understanding of how being lonely can not only adversely affect our emotional and psychological states, but it can have a profound effect on our physical health, as well. In fact, some scientists suggest that the effects of chronic loneliness affect us at the cellular level, altering such physiological processes as the flow of blood and the hormone secretion. With this in mind, some scientists have called for placing loneliness among other health risk factors as smoking, alcohol and obesity.

Feelings of loneliness are believed to increase the level of stress hormones in our body, not to mention affect our immunity and elevate our blood pressure. Being lonely can also make sleeping difficult, and can be a significant contributing factor for depression, both of which are known to predispose people to a variety of chronic conditions.

In fact, loneliness has evolved to play such a relevant role in our health that an entirely new discipline has formed to study it. Known as the field of social neuroscience, it seeks to employ state of the art scanning techniques (including functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or fMRI) to measure physiological responses to the emotional effects of social connectedness and loneliness.

As a result of their studies of human socialization, scientists believe that there may be an evolutionary component to the human need for contact, linked, of course, to survival. After all, it helps to ensure the progress of a species when parents bond with their offspring and establish families as well as cooperative communities. In other words, in order to protect the gene pool, there is safety in numbers.

Researchers contend that the response to loneliness is not that much different from the body’s physical reaction to external stimuli like pain. In other words, while a person would move their hand away from a source of pain (like something sharp or hot), people would also act to reduce loneliness in an effort to repair and restore a social connection.

According to the experts, loneliness can take three distinct forms. Intimate isolation comes from an absence of another person who affirms who you are; relational isolation results from having no face-to-face contact that is rewarding; and collective isolation, which happens when a person feels excluded or on the outside of a collective group. Furthermore, it is not the actual physical isolation that contributes to feelings of isolation, but more the perception of being alone that triggers loneliness.

These impressions, of course, can be especially prevalent given the current culture that we live in, where time spent socializing and making connections is replaced with time in front of the TV or on the computer. And with families and households shrinking, more and more people will find themselves on their own. Indeed, by some estimates, by the end of this year, nearly 31 million Americans, or 10% of the population, will live alone.

If you suffer from feelings of loneliness, know that there are numerous ways to make connections, and sometimes all it takes is getting out the front door and surrounding yourself with people. If necessary, seek out professional help.

For more thoughts and information about loneliness, visit the website for the Web of Loneliness.