Are you heartbroken? A cardiologist shares how feeling lonely can lead to heart disease

Article contributed by Dr Nandakumar Ramasami, Cardiologist from the Mount Elizabeth Novena Specialist Centre, in collaboration with doctorxdentist.

When we talk about breaking hearts, we don’t mean it literally, do we? However, here’s the twist: hearts can indeed be broken. We even have a name for it — “broken heart syndrome”.

Heart disease can be devastating as it can affect someone during their most productive stages. In fact, heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.

How does loneliness affect the heart?

Loneliness is difficult to define as it is very subjective. It usually means feeling unhappy. This could be due to a lack of societal relationships (isolation) or having problems in those relationships. For some time, it has been known that loneliness is linked to both coronary heart disease and stroke.

Loneliness plays a part in heart diseases through behavioural factors such as:

• poor health behaviours
• smoking
• low levels of physical activity
• obesity

In addition, there are certain physiological changes that can cause antioxidant stress due to loneliness, such as:

• weaker immune systems
• hypertension
• mental health issues

These can then lead to atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.

What types of heart diseases can arise from loneliness?

An article published in 2009 looked at loneliness and heart disease in women over 19 years. In it, loneliness was shown to have a higher effect on the risk of coronary heart disease. It is known that loneliness is a common cause of stress. In an earlier study, there was a 40-60% increased risk of coronary heart disease. It was said to be because of chronic stress.

A study in 2015, found that loneliness and isolation were associated with an almost 30% increased risk of both coronary heart events and stroke. Similarly, a recent study in 2018 confirmed that loneliness is a strong predictor of poor outcomes in both men and women.

The DenHeart study also showed that loneliness was a strong reason for the poor outcomes in all kinds of heart disease. This can also include:

• arrhythmias
• heart failure
• ischemic heart disease
• heart valve disease

What are some ways to relieve loneliness?

Loneliness doubles the mortality risk in women and is close to double in men. Therefore, it is not something you should take lightly. It is a strong predictor of premature deaths in both men and women with heart disease.

European guidelines currently recommend patients with cardiovascular disease to be assessed for psychosocial risk factors.

These include:

• high workloads
• tight deadlines
• lack of control of the work and working methods

It is, therefore, crucial that we know the importance of maintaining good ties with your family and friends. With that said, having a balanced work-life as well as making new friends could also be good for your health!