Loneliness and Isolation is as unsafe as smoking

Don't take social isolation or loneliness lightly, as brain scans have shown it can be as harmful as smoking.

The research, pioneered by the University of Chicago (U-C), is the first to combine FMRI scans with such data to study links between perceived loneliness and brain activity.

Researchers found that the ventral stria tum - a region of the brain associated with rewards - is much more activated in non-lonely people than in the lonely when they view pictures of people in pleasant settings.

Ventral striatum, which is critical to learning, is a key portion of the brain and is activated by primary rewards such as food and secondary rewards such as money. Social rewards and feelings of love also may activate the region..... (read full story)