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June 15, 2024 – Better sleep may play a significant role in reducing loneliness, particularly among younger adults, according to a recent study involving nearly 2,300 participants. The study found that improved sleep health is associated with significantly lower levels of loneliness across different ages, with the strongest impact observed in younger individuals.
The research, led by Joseph Dzierzewski, PhD, vice-president for research and scientific affairs at the National Sleep Foundation, highlights the critical role sleep plays in mitigating loneliness, which the US Surgeon General has identified as “a major public health concern.” Loneliness is linked to high rates of negative physical and mental health outcomes.
“Loneliness is an urgent public health crisis, and there is a pressing need for providers to better understand and treat it,” said Dzierzewski in a statement. “Better sleep health might be connected to lower feelings of loneliness by empowering people to engage in social activities, reducing feelings of negative emotions, and increasing the likelihood that people interpret interactions in a positive way.”
The findings were presented at SLEEP 2024: 38th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies and published in an online supplement of the journal Sleep.
Rested, Connected
An American Psychiatric Association poll conducted earlier this year revealed that 30% of US adults reported feelings of loneliness at least once a week over the past year, with 10% feeling lonely every day. Younger people, particularly those aged 18-34, are more likely to experience frequent loneliness.
While previous research has established a link between loneliness and poor sleep across different age groups, few studies have explored the relationship between social and emotional loneliness and sleep health throughout the adult lifespan. The current study, led by Dzierzewski, involved 2,297 adults with a mean age of 44 years, of whom 51% were male. Participants completed a validated sleep health questionnaire and a loneliness scale.
Linear regression analyses examined the direct associations between sleep health, age, and loneliness, while moderation analyses tested whether the link between sleep health and loneliness varied by age. The average total sleep score was 7.7 (on a scale of 0-12), indicating better multidimensional sleep health, and the average total loneliness scale score was 8.9 (out of 11), indicating moderate levels of loneliness.
Results showed that better sleep health and younger age were associated with significantly lower loneliness scores. Age significantly moderated the association between sleep health and total and emotional loneliness scores, but not social loneliness scores. The association between better sleep health and lower loneliness was stronger in younger adults.
“Why younger adults might experience more sleep-related benefits to loneliness than older adults is unknown and intriguing — certainly worth further investigation,” Dzierzewski said in a conference statement.
Untapped Avenue
The researchers suggest that promoting sleep health may be an “untapped avenue” to support efforts and programs aimed at reducing loneliness and increasing social engagement, especially among younger individuals. Future research should consider monitoring sleep health in programs or interventions that address loneliness.
“Healthcare providers should be aware of the important link between sleep health and loneliness, as both sleep and social connections are essential to health and well-being,” said Dzierzewski. “When sitting across from patients, asking about both sleep health and loneliness might yield important insights into avenues for health promotion.”
Michael Breus, PhD, a clinical psychologist and founder of TheSleepDoctor.com, who was not involved in the study, supports the findings. “It makes sense that better sleep would lead to fewer feelings of loneliness,” he told Medscape Medical News. “Research has shown that when someone is not sleeping well, they give others a sense of unhappiness, which socially deflects new encounters or even encounters with friends. So social awareness and social initiation would appear to both be affected by sleep quality, therefore potentially leading, at least in part, to loneliness.”
This study underscores the importance of good sleep health in combating loneliness and promoting overall well-being, particularly among the younger population.
