Lonely people may have a longer life than those with good social contacts

The fact that loneliness makes sick is now considered secure. Health authorities even go so far as to equate the consequences of social isolation with those that can be expected with a daily consumption of 15 cigarettes. The basis of these assumptions are numerous studies that associated loneliness with a shortened life expectancy. But a new investigation with almost 400,000 older people in Canada, Finland and New Zealand has now come to a different result.