Category Ranking
98%
Total Visits
921
Avg Visit Duration
2 minutes
Citations
20
Article Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that social contact is a basic need governed by a social homeostatic system. Little is known, however, about how conditions of altered social homeostasis affect human psychology and physiology. Here, we investigated the effects of 8 hr of social isolation on psychological and physiological variables and compared this with 8 hr of food deprivation in a lab experiment ( = 30 adult women). Social isolation led to lowered self-reported energetic arousal and heightened fatigue, comparable with food deprivation. To test whether these findings would extend to a real-life setting, we conducted a preregistered field study during a COVID-19 lockdown ( = 87 adults; 47 women). The drop in energetic arousal after social isolation observed in the lab replicated in the field study for participants who lived alone or reported high sociability, suggesting that lowered energy could be part of a homeostatic response to the lack of social contact.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09567976231156413 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Biopsychosocial and Environmental Factors that Impact Brain-Gut-Microbiome Interactions in Obesity.
Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol
August 2025
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases, University of California, Los Angeles; Goodman Luskin Microbiome Center, University of California, Los Angeles; G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience, University of California, Los Angeles; David Geffen School of Me
Background: Despite significant advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of obesity and influencing factors, its prevalence continues to increase at an alarming rate. Social determinants of health (SDOH) encompass a broad range of psychosocial and environmental factors, including economic stability, education, access to healthcare, social support, isolation, neighborhood disadvantage, discrimination, early life adversity, and stress, all of which have been recognized to significantly increase the risk of obesity.
Aim: This review aims to elucidate the intricate relationship between SDOH and biological mechanisms related to the brain-gut-microbiome (BGM) system that lead to altered eating behaviors and obesity.
Social isolation promotes hyperglycemia through sympathetic activation of inguinal white adipose tissue.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun
September 2025
Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, PR China. Electronic address:
Epidemiological studies have reported that social isolation increases the risk of diabetes, but the underlying neural mechanism remains unclear. Using a long-term single-housed (SH) mouse model of social isolation, SH mice not only exhibited disrupted glucose homeostasis, evidenced by elevated fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, and reduced insulin sensitivity, but also showed hypertrophic adipocytes and altered lipid metabolism. To elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying these metabolic disturbances, retrograde trans-synaptic tracing revealed the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and locus coeruleus (LC) as the most PRV-labeled brain regions, suggesting their potential roles in social isolation-induced hyperglycemia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEffects of one year of extreme isolation in Antarctica on olfactory and gustatory functions.
Sci Rep
September 2025
Internal Medicine VI, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Taste and smell are critical for food intake and maintaining adequate energy balance, particularly in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments. Hypoxic conditions, low humidity, and limited chemosensory exposure at Concordia Station in Antarctica may impair taste and smell functions, though research remains scarce. Gustatory and olfactory functions were assessed in 19 participants (39.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcute isolation is associated with increased reward seeking and reward learning in human adolescents.
Commun Psychol
September 2025
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Social connection, a basic human need, is vital during adolescence. How a lack of connection impacts adolescent behaviour is unclear. To address this question, we employed experimental short-term isolation with and without access to virtual social interactions (iso total; iso with media; order counterbalanced, both compared to a separate baseline session).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA Community-Based Intervention to Address Social Determinants of Health: A Pilot Study.
Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf
August 2025
Background: This Innovation Report describes the feasibility and impact of an intervention focused on community-based social support to address social determinants of health (SDoH).
Methods: This study followed adult patients (N = 12) referred by primary care teams at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) due to unresolved SDoH needs. Over 12 months, community volunteers (the Open Table Network Table) were paired with patients to address their primary SDoH needs.