Eight hours of solitude can lead to a feeling of exhaustion and fatigue similar to starving yourself. In the journal “Psychological Science”, Viennese psychologists interpret the perception as the result of a basic need that got out of hand, from which some people suffer greatly.
The study by the Viennese psychologists also took into account data from study participants during the first lockdown in Austria and Italy. The team led by Giorgia Silani from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Vienna examined the reactions and perceptions of 30 participants in a lab experiment under different isolation conditions. On the other hand, the scientists looked for people in similar situations among the numerous female and male participants in a painstaking study during the lockdown premiere in spring 2020. In the experiment conducted in Vienna, participants spent eight days over three days hours in the laboratory.
Subjects divided into three groups
This time elapsed either with precisely timed socializing and eating, or with conversations and no food intake, or, in the third state, with no socializing but with food. During the day, the participants repeatedly provided information about their perception of stress, their mood and perceived fatigue. The level of the stress hormone cortisol and heart rate were also recorded.
“In the laboratory study, we found striking similarities between social isolation and food deprivation. Both conditions resulted in decreased energy and increased fatigue, which is surprising given that we literally lose energy from lack of food, whereas social isolation does not,” said the study’s first authors, Ana Stijovic and Paul Forbes. To assess whether there are indications of similar processes in more or less everyday situations, the scientists used data from a larger field study from the time of the first lockdown.
Similar experiences in lockdown
The participants in this study repeatedly provided information about their behavior and experiences, as well as the level of stress they felt over several days. The field study found data from 87 people who stated they had spent at least eight hours straight alone during this period.
“The drop in energy levels observed in the lab following social isolation was also apparent in the field study participants who lived alone or described themselves as highly social,” the paper states. The scientists interpret this as a result of an unbalanced basic psychological need for contact with other people. As a species that needs the exchange with conspecifics, there are certainly parallels between this response and that to food deprivation, according to a broadcast from the University of Vienna.
People need social contacts
The human psyche more or less automatically thinks about reconnecting with other people after phases of isolation. If this is not possible, the mental structure becomes out of place. However, this response is also highly dependent on personality structure, the study found. While long-term loneliness and increased fatigue are known to be related, overall relatively little is known about the psychological patterns that occur during social isolation, the researchers say: “The fact that we can see this effect after a short period of time of social isolation” , points out that this psychological imbalance leads to adjustment problems in the longer term.
Source: Krone
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