David PerlmutterPresident,, Perlmutter Health Center · Board-Certified Neurologist | Functional Medicine Pioneer | #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author | International Speaker | Host of The Empowering Neurologist Podcast

Can Living Alone Increase Dementia Risk?

31 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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1:15

In this brief video, Dr. David Perlmutter explains that living alone and the resulting social isolation can markedly raise the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. While lifestyle factors such as sleep, exercise, and diet are commonly emphasized, he highlights social connection as a powerful brain tonic. He describes recent research showing that social interaction boosts oxytocin production, which binds to receptors on brain immune cells, helping preserve synapses, support neurogenesis, and maintain overall brain health. Perlmutter urges individuals and caregivers to actively combat isolation—whether through in‑person or virtual means—to protect cognitive function.

Chapters

For people who live alone, does lack of social connection increase the risk of dementia? In the world of lifestyle effects upon cognitive risk or risk of cognitive decline, we generally focus on sleep and exercise and certainly diet as well, but it turns out that social connection is a really powerful tonic for the brain. When we lose our social connection, when we live in isolation, that is associated with a fairly dramatic increased risk for developing cognitive Now, it's one of those things that we haven't really understood in terms of the mechanism. Why is it the case? But more recently, I think we've understood that when we are socially connected, we increase the production in the brain of something called oxytocin, the love hormone, if you will. And it turns out that there are receptors on the brain's immune cells for oxytocin, keeping those immune cells in a very supportive way, really keeping our synapses intact, fostering the growth of even new neurons. That's what social connection does for us. So we've got to do everything we can for ourselves and certainly for loved ones to eliminate social isolation if that's indeed possible. And by and large it is, even if it is virtual.