The Feeling Of Loneliness
Loneliness is a feeling that starts within your head and can reach to your heart. Many times, loneliness is confused with being alone, but there’s a difference between being alone and being lonely.
As per the recent study, loneliness has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it a dangerous silent killer.
Is Loneliness Different From Being Alone or Solitude?
Well, we all need some time for ourselves at the end of the day, we want to have some peace around ourselves, in brief, we all want some time alone with ourselves. This feeling of solitude though is in complete contradiction with loneliness. Many of us make the mistake of assuming both of them as being the same.
Loneliness, on the other hand, is a feeling of being socially isolated – be in terms of friends, family members or colleagues.
There are some symptoms by which you’ll get to know whether a person is feeling lonely. But before getting into the symptoms, we should know the reasons behind feeling lonely.
Also Read: The Reasons That Could Lead Loneliness
What Can Cause Loneliness?
Some of our community members shared their experiences and how their loneliness was triggered.
“I shifted to a new place and I felt so lonely with new faces, new food, and new language.”Â
“I lost my mother and with no one to share what I was going throug I felt so lonely”
“Spending a lot of time on social media with virtual friends rather than the real ones left me with nothing but the feeling of loneliness.”
“I was posted to a remote area where there was no connectivity. It felt like I was the only one living on this planet.”
“After losing my job, I cut off from my colleagues, my peers and my social group as I felt like a loser among them.”
“I simply hated gathering as talking to a lot of people was never my cup of tea.”
“I put on some weight and started feeling conscious about the way I looked. Hence, I started avoided interactions.”
Though the above-mentioned reasons were shared by some of our community members, the reasons could be different for different people.
As we enter into the zone of loneliness, we tend to experience some early signs of loneliness.
Symptoms of Loneliness
1. Difficulting Building Connection:
A person may have a long list of his friends but is not able to connect with even one of them. This could be because he lacks the ability to connect with them on a deeper note.
2. Constant Feeling Of Isolation:
It doesn’t matter with how many people you are surrounded with, you always feel isolated and lost in your own world.
3. The Feeling Of Being Conscious:
Not being able to talk to a lot of people because you feel conscious about your personality will also lead to the feeling of loneliness. Because you are not able to make a bond with them and end up being alone.
4. The Feeling Of Not Being Accepted:
When a person tries hard to be a part of a group but is not accepted because of his language or outfit, (s)he feels exhausted of trying and finally quits his/her efforts and gets into the zone of loneliness.
5. Lack of Inadequate Sleep or No Sleep:
The mind of a lonely person remains in the constant search of a partner and is not able to get stable. As a result, the person gets fragmented sleep.
6. Falling Sick Often:
Feeling lonely increases our stress hormone and as a result, our body is not able to handle the daily work of our lives and in turn, we catch diseases more often.
Loneliness has a great effect on our health and can lead to a lot of problems if left unchecked.
How Does Loneliness Impact Your Health?
Loneliness can impact mental as well as physical health. Though it could impact different people differently, it majorly shows linkage to the following disorders:
1. Depression
2. Fragmented Sleep
3. Diabetes Type 2
4. Heart Diseases
5. High Blood Pressure
6. Emotional Instability Or Mood Swings
7. Improper Cognitive Development
8. Autism
9. Lower Libido
10. Lower Appetite
How To Cure Loneliness?
In case you’re facing any of the above medical problems because of loneliness then we would suggest the below actions to overcome the challenge:
1. Start building your friend circle and don’t shy away from building relationships with people
2. Try to stay away from negative thinking and entertain positive thoughts
3. Avoid toxic people and surround yourself with positive thoughts, positive people and positive words.
4. Start exercising in sunlight to get that positive energy or join a gym or a dance class. Engage yourself in any physical activities.
5. Find a companion or pet an animal
6. Take medical help by reaching out to a doctor or a therapist at the earliest.
