How Loneliness Wears on the Body

The Atlantic - An article co-authored by Timothy Lahey, associate professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology, and of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, about how new research supports the idea that social isolation is detrimental to physical health—and that companionship may improve it. "While access to good health care and nutrition are essential to physical health in older people, social connections may be just as important," says Lahey. "Imagine if the most powerful health intervention for the at-risk elderly isn't a high-tech surgery or a handful of expensive pills, but the simple exchange of stories over a steaming cup of tea."