KATIE HAFNER, ‘Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness’, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/06/health/lonliness-aging-health-effects.html, The New York Times (SEPT. 5, 2016).
Mounting evidence
Researchers have found mounting evidence linking loneliness to physical illness and to functional and cognitive decline. As a predictor of early death, loneliness eclipses obesity. (…) Loneliness affects several key bodily functions, at least in part through overstimulation of the body’s stress response. Chronic loneliness (…) is associated with increased levels of cortisol, a major stress hormone, as well as higher vascular resistance, which can raise blood pressure and decrease blood flow to vital organs.