The Physical Sign Of Loneliness That Only Shows Up Near Loved Ones

Loneliness is now so common that the World Health Organisation says it’s “increasingly being recognised as a priority public health problem and policy issue”. 

This is true across all age groups. While about 11.8% of older individuals seem to struggle with the issue worldwide, it appears even more widespread among adolescents and young people. 

The University of Chicago’s Assistant Professor Stephanie Cacioppo, director of the Brain Dynamics Laboratory, pointed out that the experience of loneliness can happen even in long-standing relationships.

“You can feel alone even in a crowd or in a marriage – loneliness is really a discrepancy between what you want and what you have,” she shared.

Cacioppo is one of the authors behind a paper that linked loneliness to a physical sign. 

Lonely people may stand further apart from loved ones 

In this study, researchers surveyed almost 600 adults. They asked them to rate how lonely they felt, as well as how close they liked to sit or stand to friends and family, romantic partners, acquaintances, strangers, and other groups.

Amazingly, loneliness seemed to double the likelihood that someone prefers to keep their physical distance from loved ones (though it didn’t have an effect on how close they preferred to be with strangers or acquaintances). 

This finding held even among lonely people who had a lot of social interactions. 

It could be a survival mechanism 

Though you might think that loneliness would make people crave connection, Cacioppo says this finding actually builds on research she and her late husband John Cacioppo had previously conducted. 

This concerned an evolutionary theory of loneliness, and suggested that in the short term, loneliness might make some people withdraw as an immediate self-preservation response. 

Lonely people might also be especially vigilant when searching for percieved signs of social “threats” like rejection and hostility. 

“This ‘survival mode’ means that even though a lonely person wants more social interaction, they may still unconsciously keep their distance,” Cacioppo told the University of Chicago. 

And the paper’s first author, Elliot Layden, added: “To our knowledge, this is the first direct evidence for a link between interpersonal distance preferences and loneliness. 

“This finding may be important to consider in the context of loneliness interventions – such as client-therapist interactions and community programs seeking to combat loneliness.”