Loneliness appears closely tied to poorer mental health, well-being and overall health.
Feeling lonely is closely associated with poorer mental health, reduced well-being and worse overall health, according to collaborative research led by the University of Bristol, Nesta and Amsterdam UMC. Social isolation was also linked to lower well-being, while loneliness was associated with having multiple health conditions.
Loneliness is increasingly viewed as a public health concern as evidence connecting it with poor health continues to grow. A central question remains unresolved, however: does loneliness itself contribute to declining health, or do other underlying factors explain the relationship?
Three methods strengthen the evidence
Working with researchers from the universities of Oxford and Manchester, the group approached the question through three complementary methods: observational analysis, comparisons between siblings and Mendelian randomization, a genetics-based technique used to investigate possible causal relationships.
The researchers drew on the UK Biobank and large-scale genome-wide association studies to examine two related but distinct experiences. Loneliness reflects the perceived quality of a person’s relationships, while social isolation describes the number of social connections they have. The findings were published in Nature Communications.
Mental health shows the clearest link
Across the analyses, both loneliness and social isolation were connected with poorer mental health and lower well-being. Loneliness was also associated with worse general health.
The study did not provide clear evidence that either experience affected particular physical health conditions. However, the researchers caution that such effects cannot yet be excluded.
Taken together, the results support treating loneliness, and potentially social isolation, as public health concerns because of their relationships with mental health, well-being and general health.
Loneliness becomes a public health priority
As loneliness receives greater recognition as a public health challenge, efforts to address it could benefit individuals as well as society more broadly.
Dr. Zoe Reed, Research Fellow in the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Bristol, and corresponding author, said: “Our findings suggest that loneliness, and possibly social isolation, are still important public health concerns, especially for mental health and general health. Supporting people who feel lonely or socially isolated could help improve mental health, well-being and overall health.”
Lauren Bowes Byatt, Director of Nesta’s healthy life mission, added: “This research underlines that loneliness is likely to have a detrimental impact on our mental health and well-being. While this link may seem obvious, the topic has long been understudied. Studies like this can help to bridge this research gap, and by understanding how loneliness or social isolation may be contributing to ill-health, we can get closer to new and more effective solutions.”
Long-term effects remain uncertain
Further research is needed to clarify how loneliness and social isolation influence health and to identify the most effective ways of reducing their effects.
Because the study examined middle-aged and older adults, future work will need to determine whether the same patterns appear among younger people. Researchers must also investigate persistent or long-term loneliness, since participants’ loneliness was measured at only one point in time.
The findings add to evidence that loneliness and social isolation extend beyond the social sphere. Their links with well-being and mental and physical health make them important considerations for public health policy and practice.
Reference: “Investigating relationships between loneliness, social isolation and health” by Darren D. Hilliard, Robyn E. Wootton, Hannah M. Sallis, Margot P. Van De Weijer, Jorien L. Treur, Pamela Qualter, Padraig Dixon, Eleanor C. M. Sanderson, David J. Carslake, Rebecca C. Richmond, Patricia Beloe, Lucy Turner-Harris, Lauren Bowes Byatt, Marcus R. Munafò and Zoe E. Reed, 15 July 2026, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-74758-7
This work was supported by Nesta. This work was also supported in part by the UK Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol (MC_UU_00032/1 and MC_UU_00032/7).
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