Loneliness may cause fitful sleep: study

(Reuters) - People who are lonely may be more likely to have sleepless nights, researchers said Tuesday in a study that suggests loneliness may not only cause unhappiness, it may be bad for your health.

Reporting in the journal Sleep, Lianne Kurina of the University of Chicago and colleagues studied loneliness and sleep patterns among a group of older residents living in two colonies of Hutterites in South Dakota.

People in this religious sect live communally, sharing possessions and meals. They are rarely socially isolated.

She said the findings were similar to those from a 2002 study of college students that compared feelings of loneliness to sleep quality. It found that the lonelier the students felt, the more fitfully they slept.

The researchers collected information on feelings of loneliness, blood pressure and sleep from 95 residents of the Hutterite communities.

via ca.news.yahoo.com