Written by Melanie Kozlan, Four Green Steps

If you've been feeling lonely, poor sleeping habits could be to blame (or maybe it's just time you went out and met some new people!). A new study shows a direct relationship between fragmented sleep and feeling lonely.

From USA Today:

Lianne M. Kurina, Ph.D., from the University of Chicago, and colleagues investigated whether loneliness was associated with sleep fragmentation or sleep duration. A total of 95 individuals from a communal society, with a mean age of 39.8 years, were interviewed about loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress; and subjective sleep measures (sleep quality and daytime sleepiness) were assessed. Objective sleep properties, including sleep fragmentation and sleep duration, were measured using a wrist actigraph worn by the participants for one week.

The investigators found that, after controlling for age, gender, body mass index, risk of sleep apnea, and negative affect (comprising symptoms of depression and anxiety, and perceived stress), higher loneliness scores correlated with significantly higher levels of sleep fragmentation. There was no association of loneliness with sleep duration, or with either subjective sleep measure.

"Our study provides evidence that those individuals who perceive themselves as less connected to others have more fragmented sleep. Sleep could be a pathway through which perceived social isolation influences health," the authors write.

Image courtesy of Creative Commons.

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