Together: Why Social Connection Holds the Key to Better Health, Higher Performance, and Greater Happiness

by Vivek H. Murthy

After studying data from more than ten thousand people aged fifty or older, they concluded that the tendency to feel lonely over a lifetime, rather than just occasionally due to circumstance, is between 14 and 27 percent heritable based on an analysis of common gene variants. Other studies, including twin studies, looking at the total heritability of loneliness have pegged that number as high as 55 percent.21 But it’s important to note that loneliness is not a discrete condition but an emotional response. “What’s being inherited is not loneliness,” Cacioppo said, “it’s the painfulness of the disconnection.”22 What he meant is that the overall experience of loneliness is a complex product of our genes, past experiences, current circumstances, the culture in which we live, and our personalities. Which of these factors causes us to feel lonely on any given day is nearly impossible to say.