If you are socially isolated or often lonely, it is natural to wonder whether eating well, moving more and not smoking can make up for it. A large UK study suggests healthy habits may narrow the gap for social isolation, but the same result was not statistically significant for loneliness. It describes group patterns, not a forecast for any individual.
Researchers from China, the United States and the Netherlands published the study in Nature Communications in August 2026. They used data from the UK Biobank, a large research resource of adults in the United Kingdom.
The analysis included 277,489 adults who, at the start, were free of seven major chronic conditions: type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, neurodegenerative disease, cancer, depression and anxiety. The team looked at loneliness (a felt sense of lacking connection) and social isolation (an objective lack of contact) alongside lifestyle. They used statistical models to estimate life expectancy free of physical disease and free of mental disorder from age 50.
People were compared with others who experienced neither loneliness nor isolation, and the researchers also examined whether a healthier lifestyle changed the pattern.
Loneliness and social isolation were both associated with fewer years free of disease, and the association was stronger for years free of mental disorder than for years free of physical disease.
At age 50, women who experienced both loneliness and isolation, compared with women who experienced neither, were estimated to live 2.4 fewer years free of physical disease and 3.7 fewer years free of mental disorder. For men, the corresponding estimates were 1.7 fewer years free of physical disease and 5.8 fewer years free of mental disorder.
The question in the headline had a mixed answer. The loss of disease-free life expectancy linked with social isolation narrowed among people with healthier lifestyles. However, the matching result for loneliness was not statistically significant. That means the study did not find clear evidence that healthy habits changed the loneliness association, which is different from showing that they make no difference.
So healthy habits were linked with a smaller gap for isolation, but not shown to fully offset it, and not clearly for loneliness.
It is also worth remembering what the study did not measure. It looked at disease-free years, not at how satisfying those years were, and it did not ask what connection means to each person. Two people with the same score on a loneliness question may have very different lives, supports and health needs. For that reason the numbers are best read as a general signal that social wellbeing and everyday health habits may sit together, rather than as targets to hit.
These are modelled population associations. They are not a life-expectancy calculator, and they do not tell you how many healthy years you personally may have. The estimates compare groups, and individuals within each group vary widely.
The study is observational. It cannot show that loneliness or isolation caused the loss of healthy years, or that improving lifestyle or connection would restore them. People who are lonely may already have subtle health, mood or life circumstances that influence both their connections and their health. Because participants were free of the seven conditions at the start, the findings do not describe people who are already unwell.
UK Biobank volunteers are generally older and tend to be healthier than the wider population, so the results may not apply equally to everyone, including people in Australia or from other backgrounds. The abstract available for this article does not describe how lifestyle was scored, so this article does not detail that.
This is general information, not medical advice, and it does not tell anyone to change their activity, diet or treatment. Anyone thinking about changes to their health habits should talk with their GP or an appropriately qualified practitioner, particularly if they have a medical condition. If loneliness is affecting your mood, Lifeline on 13 11 14 is available in Australia, and 000 in an emergency.
Source: Associations of loneliness, social isolation and healthy lifestyle with life expectancy free of major physical disease and mental disorder DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-74498-8
Conceptual illustration of physical habits and social wellbeing as distinct needs. AI-generated editorial illustration. This article summarises published research in our own words and is general information, not personal health advice.
Please Login or Sign up to be able to comment