Loneliness is an all-too-human emotion that poets, novelists, and songwriters have for centuries tried to capture in words in every language. But some researchers contend that it's more than a feeling: It's a scourge, an illness, a condition to be treated like a disease—and an infectious and deadly one at that.

According to a literature review, lacking a social connection is considered more dangerous than smoking 15 cigarettes a day and deadlier than obesity. Thus it makes sense how feeling alone can translate into physical ailments. Humans are social creatures, which doesn't mean we simply enjoy being social; it means we need to be. It's how we survive—together, in groups, finding strength in numbers even if, unlike our ancestors, we wouldn't literally starve to death if we didn't have a go-to crew.

READ ON