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A new neurological study in Türkiye has shown that chronic loneliness affects the brain’s structure and chemistry, increasing the risk of dementia.
Using MRI and PET imaging, researchers identified how prolonged isolation can damage brain regions responsible for memory, emotions, and social understanding.
What is the link between loneliness and dementia?
“We observed changes in the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus in people who live in long-term loneliness," neurologist Professor Baris Metin explained Friday to Turkish news provider CNN Turk.
Metin noted that the affected brain areas control self-awareness, emotional response, and memory. Their disruption contributes to cognitive decline, especially in older adults.
He added that high levels of cortisol, a hormone released during stress, remain elevated during chronic loneliness. This triggers the brain’s stress response system, known as the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis.
“Prolonged activation of this system leads to inflammation, damage to the hippocampus, and loss of neural connections,” Metin said. These alterations contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease and increase the risk of depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular issues.
Brain imaging as part of the study revealed that people who experience long-term loneliness have increased hyperactivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, which plays a role in social evaluation.
Their amygdala, which processes fear and threat, also becomes more reactive. Over time, the hippocampus shrinks in volume. According to Metin, this physical shrinkage can result in measurable memory problems.
The study also found that digital communication methods, including video calls, do not offer the same mental benefits as in-person interactions.
“Messaging and video calls cannot replace face-to-face communication,” Metin noted. “The brain processes tone, touch, smell, and facial expressions during real-life interaction. These sensory cues activate the empathy network and stimulate the release of oxytocin.”
Oxytocin is a hormone that promotes social bonding.
Experts in evolutionary biology and neuroscience have long argued that social connection is a basic biological need.
Joan Silk, a primatologist at Arizona State University, explains that humans evolved to live in groups because it increased their chances of survival.
“Humans are wired for social connections because these connections have helped us to survive and reproduce successfully over the course of our evolutionary history,” said Silk.
Silk has spent over four decades studying baboon societies to understand how social bonds influence stress levels, reproduction, and longevity.
Silk emphasized that even with advances in technology, humans still rely on each other for emotional and psychological well-being. “We all live in societies. We all live in groups of others—family, friends, and colleagues,” she said.
Neuroscientist Stephen Braren made a similar argument in an article for Social Creatures as he cited decades of research showing that loneliness functions like hunger or thirst, warning the brain that a basic need is unmet.
“Loneliness is an evolutionary signal that we need more social connection,” Braren wrote.
He also described how humans evolved unusually large brains relative to their body size in order to manage complex social relationships. “Our brains developed to connect. Group living gave early humans protection, cooperation, and emotional support,” he wrote.
When researchers used fMRI to observe individuals after 10 hours of social isolation, they found activity in the same brain region that responds to food cravings after fasting. “Social isolation activates a craving for connection in the same way that hunger triggers a desire for food,” Braren explained.
While science continues to affirm the importance of community, global cultural trends have moved in the opposite direction.
In many parts of the world, particularly in the West, societies are becoming more individualistic. Experts warn that this shift increases social isolation, weakens empathy, and contributes to mental health problems.
Western culture often frames personal success as an individual pursuit, placing status, achievement, and self-promotion at the center of life. This value system encourages people to prioritize their own goals above all else, while treating dependence or vulnerability as failure. Over time, this ideology creates emotional distance and a deep sense of disconnection.
The belief that one must manage everything alone, without asking for help, fosters anxiety, burnout, and low self-worth. It also turns human relationships into transactions or competitions rather than sources of support.
In this culture, people are taught to view emotional resilience as a private task, not a collective responsibility. Instead of connecting, they compare. Instead of reaching out, they retreat. The result is a society that praises independence while quietly eroding the conditions needed for well-being.
Some of the strongest cultural signs of this individualism appear in the modern wellness industry.
Amber Wardell, a doctor of psychology, writes that the self-care movement has shifted from empowerment to isolation. “Hyper-individualistic self-care only considers one half of the equation,” she wrote. “It has forgotten that human beings are designed to live in community.”
Psychologist Shannon Sauer-Zavala also challenged the current self-care trends in a Psychology Today column.
She argued that practices like journaling, skincare routines, or guided meditations cannot fix lives built around stress, overwork, and isolation.
“You can’t fix a lifestyle of burnout with a scented candle,” she wrote.
Instead of helping people reconnect with others, the industry often encourages withdrawal, consumerism, and self-focus. In many cases, people use self-care to mask exhaustion instead of making real changes in how they live and relate to others.
As individualism spreads, researchers and mental health professionals are looking at collectivist cultures for alternatives.
Kendra Cherry, a psychology educator, wrote that collectivist cultures prioritize group needs over individual desires. “In these societies, people define themselves through their relationships,” she wrote.
In collectivist settings, people tend to have long-term, stable relationships based on family, location, or group affiliation. These societies encourage cooperation, compromise, and mutual responsibility. “Decisions are made based on what is best for the group,” Cherry explained.
Although collectivist cultures have their own challenges, they typically provide stronger emotional support and more reliable social safety nets. Unlike individualistic societies, where people must actively maintain fragile relationships, collectivist cultures tend to build support systems into daily life.
The new study from Türkiye confirms that loneliness is more than an emotion since it creates measurable damage in the brain and that real human interaction is necessary for a stable mental health.
“If you feel lonely, reach out first to loved ones and then to professionals,” Metin emphasizes.
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