Sore throat, runny or stuffed nose, cough,
headache - the symptoms of the common cold have gripped us all at one point or
another. According to a new study, however, the severity of such symptoms may
depend on one's feelings of loneliness.
Led by
researchers from Rice University in Houston, TX, the study found that people
who felt lonely reported worse cold symptoms than individuals who did not feel
lonely.
Study
co-author Angie LeRoy, a graduate psychology student at Rice University, and
colleagues recently reported their results in the journal Health Psychology.
According
to a 2016 survey, around 72 percent of people in the
United States report feeling lonely. Of these individuals, around 31 percent
report feeling lonely at least once a week.
Feeling
socially isolated can take its toll on psychological well-being, raising the
risk of anxiety and depression,
but its effects do not end there.
Loneliness
can have serious implications for physical health, too. A study reported by Medical News Today in 2016, for example, associated
loneliness with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
"Research
has shown that loneliness puts people at risk for early death and other
physical illnesses," LeRoy notes. "But nothing had been done to look
at an acute but temporary illness that we're all vulnerable to - the common
cold."
For
their study, LeRoy and colleagues investigated how feelings of loneliness might
affect the risk of catching the common cold, as well as the severity of cold
symptoms.
Quality,
not quantity of social networks affects severity of cold symptoms
To
reach their findings, the researchers enrolled
159 individuals aged between 18 and 55, of whom around 60 percent were men.
Participants
were given nasal drops that induced a cold, before being quarantined in a hotel
room for 5 days.
The
loneliness of each subject was assessed at study baseline using the Short
Loneliness Scale and the Social Network Index. During the 5-day study period,
participants were asked to report their symptom severity.
Around
75 percent of participants developed a cold following nasal drop
administration.
The
team found that the risk of developing a cold was no different between lonely
and non-lonely participants.
However, participants who reported feeling lonely at
study baseline reported greater severity of cold symptoms than subjects who did
not feel lonely. The size of subjects' social networks appeared to have no
influence on symptom severity.
"We
looked at the quality of people's relationships, not the quantity," says
LeRoy. "You can be in a crowded room and feel lonely. That perception is
what seems to be important when it comes to cold symptoms."
"We think this is important, particularly
because of the economic burden associated with the common cold. Millions of
people miss work each year because of it. And that has to do with how they
feel, not necessarily with how much they're blowing their noses."
Angie LeRoy
Findings
may not be limited to the common cold
The
team cites previous studies that have associated feelings of rejection or other
psychosocial factors with worse physical and mental health,
which may explain the current findings. However, the team says that such an
effect is unlikely to be limited to the common cold.
"A
predisposition, whether it's physical or mental, can be exaggerated by a
subsequent stressor," says study leader Chris Fagundes, a psychologist at
Rice University. "In this case, the subsequent stressor is getting sick,
but it could be the loss of a loved one, or getting breast cancer,
which are subjects we also study."
Fagundes
adds that physicians should consider patients' psychological health when
assessing them for illness. "It would definitely help them understand the
phenomenon when the person comes in sick."
Learn how using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs during a cold may
raise the risk of heart attack.
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