So, should you be worried if you feel the same?

若你感受相通，你該擔心嗎？

Can loneliness...kill you?

寂寞真的能...殺死你嗎？

Loneliness is a psychological mechanism designed to motivate you to seek out social interactions, but it's highly subjective.

寂寞感是一種心理學機制，旨在激勵你尋求社交互動，但這是極為主觀的。

In other words, if you feel lonely, then you are lonely.

換句話說：若你感到寂寞，那麼你就是寂寞的。

And it doesn't necessarily mean you're a loner or have no friends, it just means that the social interactions that are necessary to you are not being met.

而這不一定表示你是獨行俠或沒有朋友，這只說明你內心期待的社交互動沒有被滿足。

We often think of loneliness as something that affects the elderly, but a recent study found that young people aged 16-24 felt lonely more than any other group of adults.

我們經常認為寂寞感是老年人才會有的感受，但近期研究顯示 16-24 歲的年輕人比其他成年族群更容易感到寂寞。

In one painful study, scientists found that being lonely made cold symptoms worse.

在一項令人痛心的研究中，科學家發現寂寞感會加劇感冒症狀。

Hundreds of healthy people completed a loneliness scale test and then were given nasal drops containing the common cold virus - blugh!

幾百名健康的受試者在完成寂寞測試量表後，使用了含有常見感冒病毒的滴鼻液 - 好噁！

At this point, these poor, sick-induced participants were quarantined in hotel rooms for 5 days and those who reported being more lonely prior to the test also reported more significant cold symptoms.

此時，這些染上感冒病毒的可憐受試者已經在旅館中被隔離了 5 天，而寂寞測試量表中顯示較寂寞的人，也出較嚴重的感冒症狀。

Have you ever noticed that food tastes better when you're hungry?

你有發現肚子餓的時候食物比較好吃嗎？

Scientists have actually seen the same phenomenon with loneliness.

科學家發現寂寞感也有相同的現象。

When hooked up to fMRI machines and shown either an image of a loved one or a stranger, those who tested higher on the UCLA Loneliness Scale showed a bigger response in the reward system of the brain when shown a picture of a loved one, while those who were not very lonely had a similar response between the loved one and stranger.

連接上功能性核磁共振造影機時，若看到愛人或陌生人的影像，那些在加州大學洛杉磯分校設計的寂寞量表得分較高的人，腦中的獎賞系統在看到愛人的照片時有較大的反應；而不太覺得寂寞的人，對愛人與陌生人的照片則出現相似的反應。

This helps us see that it's not that lonely individuals lack close relationships, but rather, that they long for greater social interaction.

這幫助我們了解，寂寞的人不是缺乏親密關係，而是他們渴望更強烈的社交互動。

Chronic loneliness can also change your body on a cellular level.

慢性寂寞感也會改變你的身體細胞。

Research has found that lonely people have 209 different gene expressions in some of their white blood cells, including increased activity of pro-inflammatory transcription factor.

研究發現，寂寞的人在他們的某些白血球中，有 209 個不同的基因表現，包含促炎轉錄因子的活性增加。

Now, inflammation is an important response to injury, but chronic inflammation wreaks havoc on your body.

發炎是對抗受傷的重要反應，但慢性發炎會在你的體內肆虐。

As a result, we see that poor social relationships show a 29% increase in coronary heart disease and 32% increase of a stroke.

因此我們發現，社交關係差的人得到冠狀動脈性心臟病的機率增加了 29%，中風機率也增加了 32%。

Overall, people with strong social relationships have a 50% increased likelihood of survival overall.

總體來說，有穩固社交關係的人可能存活的機率高了 50%。

That means they are much less likely to die over the same period of time, making loneliness as deadly of a risk factor as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, lack of exercise or obesity!

這表示在同樣一段時間內，他們比較不可能死，這讓寂寞的致命風險相當於每天抽 15 根菸、不運動或肥胖症！

So yes, loneliness can increase your chance of death.

所以，沒錯，寂寞感可能增加死亡率。

And the increased number of lonely people may be related to shifts in our culture, global capitalism and its focus on the individual has changed our ability to access social connection.

而寂寞人數增加可能與我們的文化變遷、全球資本主義以及以人為本的觀念有關，這些因素都改變了我們與社會聯繫的能力。

If you're feeling lonely, know that you're, well, not alone.

如果你感到寂寞，你要知道，你… 並不孤單。

It isn't usually a reflection of your likability.

這通常跟你有多討喜無關。

And one small step you can make today to feel more connected.

有一個你可以馬上嘗試，並會感到與人更有交流的小秘訣。

Try to make more intentional eye contact, whether with those you know, or even a passerby on the street.

試著刻意地多進行眼神交流，不論是和認識的人或陌生人。

Studies have found that eye contact is a gesture that makes both parties involved feel more in touch with humankind.

研究發現，眼神交流是可以讓雙方都感到與人更有互動的舉動。