--- title: Why Your Cold Feels Worse When You're Lonely description: A new study finds people who feel lonely report worse cold symptoms, regardless of the actual size of their social network. canonical: https://time.com/4715823/cold-symptoms-sick-loneliness/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-30T13:00:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:04:52.710Z article:section: Health og:title: Why Your Cold Feels Worse When You're Lonely og:description: A new study finds people who feel lonely report worse cold symptoms, regardless of the actual size of their social network. og:url: https://time.com/4715823/cold-symptoms-sick-loneliness/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7b12d255787a921/6988c05f656a3f40dfbcf50e/tiisue.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Blue tissue box with white tissue og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Your Cold Feels Worse When You're Lonely twitter:description: A new study finds people who feel lonely report worse cold symptoms, regardless of the actual size of their social network. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7b12d255787a921/6988c05f656a3f40dfbcf50e/tiisue.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Your Cold Feels Worse When You're Lonely by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 30, 2017 1:00 PM UTC  Seasonal Congestion Background with Tissue Box. Seasonal Congestion Background with Tissue Box.Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 30, 2017 1:00 PM UTC How [lonely](http://time.com/3747784/loneliness-mortality/) you feel can predict how much you’ll suffer during sickness, new research suggests. In a new study published in the journal _Health Psychology_, researchers evaluated the [loneliness](http://time.com/4299234/heart-attack-loneliness/) levels of 213 people and the size of their social networks. They then gave everyone nasal drops of the common cold virus and quarantined them in a hotel for five days to track their symptoms. Everyone in the study had the same chance of getting sick, but people who reported feeling more lonely reported more severe cold symptoms than people who were less lonely. This was true regardless of how large or small a person’s social network was, suggesting that you don’t have to be physically isolated for loneliness to take a toll on health. “It’s like feeling lonely in a crowded room,” says study author Angie LeRoy, a PhD candidate at the University of Houston and Rice University. “It doesn’t matter how many people you have in your social network. If they don’t feel like meaningful relationships, it’s not going to make a difference.” Loneliness has long been recognized as a [risk factor for poor health](http://time.com/4299234/heart-attack-loneliness/). People who are lonely are [estimated](http://time.com/3747784/loneliness-mortality/) to have a 26% higher risk of dying early than people who aren’t. The new study adds evidence that loneliness also affects how a person experiences short-term illness. “Things as simple as being lonely can have an effect on your health,” she says. “We need to pay more attention to those.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4715823/cold-symptoms-sick-loneliness/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4715823/cold-symptoms-sick-loneliness/"},"headline":"Why Your Cold Feels Worse When You're Lonely","datePublished":"2017-03-30T13:00:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:04:52.710Z","description":"A new study finds people who feel lonely report worse cold symptoms, regardless of the actual size of their social network.","url":"https://time.com/4715823/cold-symptoms-sick-loneliness/","keywords":["Public Health","cold","flu","loneliness"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7b12d255787a921/6988c05f656a3f40dfbcf50e/tiisue.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7b12d255787a921/6988c05f656a3f40dfbcf50e/tiisue.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Blue tissue box with white tissue","caption":"Blue tissue box with white tissue","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4715823/cold-symptoms-sick-loneliness/","name":"Why Your Cold Feels Worse When You're Lonely"}}]}] ```