Social isolation related to lower bone quality in males

A study conducted on mouse that was presented at ENDO 2023, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Chicago, suggested that social isolation may be bad for bones.
 "Social isolation is a potent form of psychosocial stress and is a growing public health concern, particularly among older adults," said lead researcher Rebecca Mountain, Ph.D., of MaineHealth Institute for Research in Scarborough, Maine. "Even prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has significantly increased the prevalence of isolation and loneliness, researchers have been concerned about a rising 'epidemic of loneliness.”
According to Mountain, social isolation raises one's chance for developing a variety of illnesses, such as mental health issues, as well as their total mortality and sickness rates."Previous clinical research has demonstrated that psychosocial stressors, and subsequent mental health disorders, are major risk factors for osteoporosis and fracture, which dis-proportionally affect older adults," Mountain said. "The effects of social isolation on bone, however, have not been thoroughly investigated."
In the latest investigation, experts subjected adult mice to four weeks of either social isolation (one mouse per cage) or grouped housing (four mice per cage). They discovered that male mice, but not female mice, experienced significant declines in bone quality, including decreased bone mineral density.