Patients present acutely with confusion, disorientation, neurocognitive deficits and seizures; in contrast, the chronic form is characterized by chronic dementia.

It's regular, chronic loneliness that does the serious damage: increased stress levels, higher blood pressure, disrupted sleep – all the way to accelerated dementia.

In fact, this problem of energy loss is found in most chronic disease and aging — from diabetes to heart disease to dementia.