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People who get a good night’s sleep tend to be less lonely, and rewards are especially notable among young adults, according to new findings in a small study presented earlier this month.
The study, based on surveys of nearly 2,300 adults, found that people with better sleep habits self-reported lower levels of social and emotional loneliness. The study comes after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared loneliness, social isolation and lack of connection a public health crisis in 2023.
“There is a pressing need for providers to better understand and treat it,” the study’s lead author, Joseph Dzierzewski, a clinical psychologist who is vice president of research at the nonprofit National Sleep Foundation, said in a statement. “Our results highlight the important role that sleep plays in understanding loneliness across the adult lifespan. Perhaps efforts to improve sleep health could have a beneficial effect on loneliness, especially for young people.”
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The benefits were more pronounced for younger adults with emotional loneliness, but researchers didn’t think younger age was the reason why they gained more benefits from sleep, the study found. Researchers presented findings in early June at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies’ annual meeting in Houston.
The average age of the study’s 2,297 participants was 44. Just over half were male. Participants completed an online sleep health questionnaire and the DeJong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, which asks about social and emotional loneliness. While social loneliness was described as someone missing a wider social network, emotional loneliness was defined in the study as missing an intimate partner.
In a statement, Dzierzwerski said it remains unclear why sleep appeared to benefit younger people more. The findings warrant further investigation, he added. Along with the National Sleep Foundation, the study included researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Boston.
Loneliness has become a public health concern beyond the U.S. Japan and the United Kingdom have appointed health officials dedicated to loneliness. Last fall, New York State named Dr. Ruth, once the nation’s leading sex therapist, as loneliness ambassador, considered the first in the U.S.
