<p>Suffering from a cold can be annoying enough, but you may feel even worse if you are lonely, say scientists who have found that loneliness may make people report more severe symptoms.<br /><br />Researchers from Rice University in the US studied about 159 people aged 18-55, nearly 60 per cent of them men.<br /><br />Participants were assessed for their psychological and physical health, given cold-inducing nasal drops and quarantined for five days in hotel rooms.<br /><br />The participants were monitored during and after the five-day stay.<br /><br />After adjusting for demographics like gender and age, the season, depressive affect and social isolation, the results showed those who felt lonely were no more likely to get a cold than those who were not.<br /><br />However those who were screened in advance for their level of loneliness and became infected - not all of the participants did - reported a greater severity of symptoms than those recorded in previous studies used as controls.<br /><br />The size of the participants' social networks appeared to have no bearing on how sick they felt.<br /><br />"Previous research has shown that different psycho-social factors like feeling rejected or feeling left out or not having strong social bonds with other people do make people feel worse physically, mentally and emotionally," LeRoy said.<br /><br />"You can be in a crowded room and feel lonely. That perception is what seems to be important when it comes to these cold symptoms," said Angie LeRoy of Rice University.<br /><br />"The effect may be the same for those under other kinds of stress, anytime you have an illness, it is a stressor, and this phenomenon would probably occur," said Chris Fagundes of Rice University.<br /><br />"A predisposition, whether it is physical or mental, can be exaggerated by a subsequent stressor. In this case, the subsequent stressor is getting sick, but it could be the loss of a loved one, or getting breast cancer, which are subjects we also study," Fagundes said.<br /><br />The study was published in the journal Health Psychology.</p>
<p>Suffering from a cold can be annoying enough, but you may feel even worse if you are lonely, say scientists who have found that loneliness may make people report more severe symptoms.<br /><br />Researchers from Rice University in the US studied about 159 people aged 18-55, nearly 60 per cent of them men.<br /><br />Participants were assessed for their psychological and physical health, given cold-inducing nasal drops and quarantined for five days in hotel rooms.<br /><br />The participants were monitored during and after the five-day stay.<br /><br />After adjusting for demographics like gender and age, the season, depressive affect and social isolation, the results showed those who felt lonely were no more likely to get a cold than those who were not.<br /><br />However those who were screened in advance for their level of loneliness and became infected - not all of the participants did - reported a greater severity of symptoms than those recorded in previous studies used as controls.<br /><br />The size of the participants' social networks appeared to have no bearing on how sick they felt.<br /><br />"Previous research has shown that different psycho-social factors like feeling rejected or feeling left out or not having strong social bonds with other people do make people feel worse physically, mentally and emotionally," LeRoy said.<br /><br />"You can be in a crowded room and feel lonely. That perception is what seems to be important when it comes to these cold symptoms," said Angie LeRoy of Rice University.<br /><br />"The effect may be the same for those under other kinds of stress, anytime you have an illness, it is a stressor, and this phenomenon would probably occur," said Chris Fagundes of Rice University.<br /><br />"A predisposition, whether it is physical or mental, can be exaggerated by a subsequent stressor. In this case, the subsequent stressor is getting sick, but it could be the loss of a loved one, or getting breast cancer, which are subjects we also study," Fagundes said.<br /><br />The study was published in the journal Health Psychology.</p>