Smoking With Friends

Just as we once knew that infectious diseases killed, but didn’t know that germs spread them, we’ve known intuitively that loneliness hastens death, but haven’t been able to explain how. Psychobiologists can now show that loneliness sends misleading hormonal signals, rejiggers the molecules on genes that govern behavior, and wrenches a slew of other systems out of whack. They have proved that long-lasting loneliness not only makes you sick; it can kill you. Emotional isolation is ranked as high a risk factor for mortality as smoking.

Good morning! The New Republic’s current cover story explains why being lonely is killing us. The illustrator at least seems to have been having fun.

A year ago: The Atlantic’s Jetson-ian “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?”