Is solitude good for you?

Is solitude good for you? Yes, mostly, as long as you chose it. The research on time alone is more nuanced than the “power of being alone” headlines suggest: solitude reliably calms people down and lowers stress, but it can also nudge up loneliness. What seems to decide which way it goes is whether the time alone was yours to choose.

This page is general information, not medical advice.

What is solitude?

Solitude means being alone, without social interaction. That is the whole definition, and it is neutral. It says nothing about whether being alone feels good or bad.

Loneliness is different. The World Health Organization defines it as the painful feeling that arises from a gap between the social connection you want and the connection you actually have, and it defines social isolation as the objective lack of sufficient social connections.^[5] So solitude is a situation, while loneliness is a feeling. The same evening alone can be restful solitude for one person and painful loneliness for another. We go deeper into loneliness in what is loneliness.

Is solitude good for you?

Yes, in specific and measurable ways, when it is chosen. The clearest evidence comes from a set of four studies published in 2018. Researchers found that being alone had a “deactivation” effect on feelings: it turned down high-arousal emotions, both negative ones like anxiety and anger and positive ones like excitement.^[1] This happened when people were alone, but not when they were with another person, and it did not depend on whether they were reading or simply sitting.^[1]

In those experiments, participants sat alone for 15 minutes, without phones or other devices.^[2] In the final study, solitude led to relaxation and reduced stress when people actively chose to be alone.^[1]

That calming effect is not always what you want. Losing some excitement is a cost if you are trying to feel energised. But if your days run hot, a short stretch of solitude is one of the simplest ways to bring the temperature down.

What are the benefits of solitude for mental health?

The best supported benefits are lower stress, calmer feelings and a greater sense of freedom. A 2023 study followed 178 people for 21 days, asking them each day to reconstruct how many hours they had spent alone.^[3] On days when people spent more time alone, they felt less stressed and more autonomous: in the researchers’ terms, more volitional, authentic and free from pressure. Those benefits accumulated, so people who spent more time alone across the whole study were less stressed overall.^[3]

Older, more qualitative work points in a similar direction. A 2003 review of solitude examined four benefits that have long been attributed to time alone: freedom, creativity, intimacy and spirituality. It also considered the potential dangers of finding solitude too attractive.^[4] That paper is a careful survey of what solitude can offer, rather than a trial, so treat it as a description rather than proof.

There is also a quieter benefit that is hard to measure: solitude is where boredom, daydreaming and reflection get room to happen. Our piece on the unaccompanied walk is about that.

Is solitude the same as loneliness?

No, but they are related, and the 2023 study shows exactly how. People were lonelier and less satisfied with life on days when they spent more hours alone.^[3] Those downsides were cancelled out or reduced when the time alone was choiceful and did not pile up day after day. And people who were generally alone more were not, on the whole, lonelier.^[3]

Put simply: a day alone can bring a twinge of loneliness alongside the calm, especially if it was not your idea. Solitude you pick, in doses that do not stack up into isolation, keeps most of the good and little of the bad.

How much solitude is healthy?

There is no magic number. The 2023 study was designed to look for an ideal balance between time alone and time with others, and found no evidence of a one-size-fits-all optimum.^[3] What it did find is that the quality of the solitude, chiefly whether it was chosen, mattered as much as the quantity.

A sensible starting point is the one the 2018 experiments used: 15 minutes alone, without a phone.^[2] That is not a prescription. It is simply a dose that was enough to make a measurable difference.

Why does solitude feel addictive to some people?

Probably because it relieves pressure, and relief is pleasant. The 2023 study found that on days with more time alone, people felt more volitional, authentic and free from pressure, and less stressed.^[3] If your work, family or social life runs at full volume, it makes sense that quiet time feels like something you want more of.

Wanting a lot of solitude is not, by itself, a warning sign. In the same study, people who were generally alone more were not, on the whole, lonelier.^[3] The question worth asking is whether you are moving towards something (rest, thought, a hobby) or away from something (people you have stopped feeling able to face). The first is a preference. The second is worth talking through with someone.

Is solitude ever bad for you?

Yes, when it is not chosen, or when it becomes isolation. The 2023 findings on loneliness are the everyday version of this.^[3] At the other end of the scale, the WHO links long-term social isolation and loneliness with a higher risk of stroke, heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline and early death.^[5] Those risks are about people who lack connection over long periods, not people who enjoy a quiet evening.

A useful check: after time alone, do you feel restored, or more cut off? If it is the second, and that has been true for a while, it is worth reaching out to someone you trust or talking to your GP. If you feel in crisis, Samaritans can be called free, day or night, on 116 123.

How do you practise solitude?

Small, chosen and screen-free is the pattern the research supports.

• Choose it. Decide in advance that this time is yours. Choice is what separated restorative solitude from lonely solitude in the studies.^[1][3]
• Leave the phone behind. The 15-minute sessions were device-free.^[2] A feed is a crowd in your pocket.
• Start short. A cup of tea at the window, a walk without earbuds, ten minutes on a bench.
• Keep your people too. Solitude works best as a counterweight to connection, not a replacement for it.

If being alone feels uncomfortable at first, that is normal and it fades with practice. Our guide on how to be comfortable being alone covers that restless first stretch, and The Walk Log is a gentle way to make a habit of it.