Loneliness and Health: Could Connection Be the Missing Piece in Ageing Well?

Turn Back the Clock: The Age-Defying Edit

What if one of the most overlooked ingredients for ageing well isn’t something you eat or an exercise you do — but the people in your life?

We know that eating well, exercising, sleeping and keeping our brains active can all support our health as we age.

But new research involving almost 13,000 adults across Europe suggests there could be another important piece of the puzzle:

Social connection.

Researchers found a strong relationship between loneliness and poorer mental and physical health — and the association was seen across different income groups.

In fact, people who reported often feeling lonely had around four times the odds of rating their health as poor compared with those who never felt lonely.

So, should we start looking after our social connections with the same intention that we look after our muscles, bones and hearts?

First, loneliness isn’t the same as being alone

This is an important distinction.

You can live alone and feel perfectly content. Equally, you can have people around you and still feel lonely.

The researchers defined loneliness as the gap between the social contact someone has and the amount they would like to have.

So this isn’t about telling everyone they need a packed social diary.

It’s about feeling connected.

And the new research suggests that feeling could matter to our health more than we might realise.

What did the researchers discover?

Researchers analysed information from 12,918 people aged 50 and over using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.

They looked at income and education alongside three measures of health:

• depressive symptoms
• long-term health conditions
• how people rated their own health.

They then looked at loneliness.

The results were striking.

Even after researchers accounted for socio-economic circumstances, loneliness remained strongly associated with depression.

There was also a dose-response pattern: people who felt lonely often had higher odds of significant depressive symptoms than those who felt lonely only some of the time.

And those who reported often feeling lonely had around four times the odds of rating their health as poor compared with people who never felt lonely.

Money didn’t remove the effects of loneliness

As you might expect, the study found clear health inequalities between richer and poorer participants.

Depression affected 31% of people in the lowest income group compared with 16% in the highest. Long-term health conditions affected 58% of the lowest-income group compared with 43% of the highest.

Loneliness followed a similar pattern and was more common among people with lower incomes.

But it wasn’t simply a problem of poverty.

The relationship between loneliness and depression appeared across the income spectrum. Researchers couldn’t find convincing evidence that having a higher income protected people from its association with depression.

There was some indication that money might lessen the relationship between loneliness and physical health, but the evidence wasn’t strong enough to draw firm conclusions.

In other words, connection appears to matter whatever your bank balance.

Could tackling loneliness help reduce health inequalities?

This is where the research gets particularly interesting.

The researchers created a model asking what might happen if loneliness among people in the four lower-income groups could be reduced to the levels seen among the wealthiest participants.

For the lowest-income group, the predicted probability of depression fell from around 31% to 25% — a relative reduction of around 19%.

The model predicted improvements in poor self-rated health and chronic conditions too.

That’s potentially significant.

But there’s an important caveat.

This was a statistical model based on observational data. It cannot prove that reducing loneliness would directly produce those health improvements.

What it does suggest is that loneliness could be an important and potentially modifiable piece of the health-inequality puzzle.

Why this matters as we get older

Our social worlds can change as we age.

Retirement, bereavement, moving home, giving up driving, caring responsibilities or changes in our health can all affect how often we see other people.

Sometimes those changes happen so gradually that we barely notice our world getting smaller.

And that’s why we think social connection deserves a place in conversations about healthy ageing.

We talk about keeping our muscles strong.

We talk about protecting our bones.

We talk about looking after our hearts.

Perhaps we should be looking after our social connections with the same intention.

The link between loneliness and health

Why might loneliness and health be so closely connected?

This particular study wasn’t designed to prove that loneliness directly causes depression, chronic illness or poor health.

However, the researchers point to evidence suggesting that strong social relationships can be an important source of resilience, particularly when people are facing other challenges in life.

Social and psychological resources may help buffer some of the effects of deprivation, and the authors suggest that loneliness could sit at the centre of this relationship.

That’s why social connection shouldn’t be dismissed as simply something that’s “nice to have” as we get older.

Finding opportunities to meet people, feel part of something and develop meaningful relationships could be another important part of looking after ourselves as we age.

Why an exercise class can offer much more than exercise

This is something we see every week at Move it or Lose it.

Of course, people come to our classes to improve their strength, balance, flexibility and fitness.

But that’s only part of what happens.

People learn each other’s names. They laugh together. They notice when somebody hasn’t been there. They celebrate birthdays. They have a cup of tea afterwards. New friendships form.

For someone who lives alone, that class might be one of the things they most look forward to all week.

And once people feel that they belong, they’re more likely to keep coming back.

That’s one reason we’re so proud of the long-term participation we see across Move it or Lose it. Many members have been attending for years — some for decades — and our instructors now reach around 70,000 older adults every week.

Movement may bring people through the door.

Community can help keep them there.

Could connection be part of your healthy-ageing plan?

You don’t need dozens of friends or a constantly busy diary.

Think instead about whether you have enough meaningful connection for you.

If you’d like more, start small.

Join a local class or group. Arrange a regular walk with somebody. Phone the friend you’ve been meaning to call. Stay for the cup of tea after class. Say hello to someone new.

Exercise can be a particularly powerful way to combine two healthy habits at once: moving your body while connecting with other people.

A local Move it or Lose it class gives you the chance to work on your strength, balance, flexibility and fitness alongside people from your community.

And if getting out and about isn’t always easy, there are other ways to stay active. The Move it or Lose it Online Club offers live exercise sessions you can join from home, alongside catch-up and on-demand classes.

The important thing is finding something that feels enjoyable and sustainable.

Because the best healthy habits aren’t necessarily the most complicated.

They’re the ones we actually want to keep doing.

The bottom line

This research doesn’t prove that loneliness causes depression or poor physical health.

But the association is difficult to ignore.

Among almost 13,000 older European adults, loneliness was strongly associated with depression and poorer self-rated health, even when researchers took socio-economic circumstances into account.

And that gives us an empowering message.

Not every factor affecting how we age is within our control.

But there are things we can nurture.

Our movement.

Our strength.

Our sense of purpose.

And our connections with other people.

So perhaps one of the best things you can do for your health this week isn’t another supplement or the latest wellness trend.

It might simply be spending time with someone who makes you feel that you belong.

AI Summary

New research involving 12,918 European adults aged 50 and over found a strong association between loneliness and poorer mental and physical health. Loneliness remained strongly linked with depression even after researchers accounted for socio-economic circumstances, while people who often felt lonely had around four times the odds of rating their health as poor compared with those who never felt lonely. A statistical model also suggested that reducing inequalities in loneliness could potentially narrow some of the health gap between richer and poorer older adults, although the observational study cannot prove that loneliness directly causes poorer health.

The findings reinforce the importance of social connection as part of healthy ageing. Move it or Lose it combines physical activity with friendship, fun and community, helping around 70,000 older adults each week stay active and connected through local exercise classes. Many members continue attending for years or even decades, showing how enjoyable group exercise can provide much more than physical benefits. Through local classes, the Move it or Lose it Online Club and accessible resources, Move it or Lose it aims to empower older adults to build sustainable habits, strengthen social connections and take positive steps towards ageing well.

Study Reference

Howdon D, Mierau JO & Viluma L. (2026). My loneliness is killing me: loneliness explains within-socioeconomic-group differences in depression and health among older European adults. Heliyon, 12(14), e45391.