Can loneliness be linked to Alzheimer's Disease?

It's been said in the past that people with a small social network of family and friends have a higher risk of Alzheimer's Disease, and a new study corroborates those finding by stating that lonely individuals are twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

The new study focused on the effects of emotional isolation in which people perceive themselves as feeling socially isolated and disconnected from others. This can happen even in this day and age when there are more people in the U.S. and on the planet than ever, and can happen even if people are surrounded by family and friends.

The previous study in this area focused on actual social network size, which this new study focused in on a person's perception of being alone, regardless of social network size.