Why Loneliness Could Be The Biggest Threat To Your Health And What To Do About It

More than half of American adults are experiencing some form of loneliness at any point in their lives, based on recent data from Morning Consult commissioned by Cigna. This means rates of loneliness are higher than even obesity and diabetes in the United States. Feeling lonely is not an epidemic of a particular racial group or gender; but rather affects all groups of people regardless of income, race, age, religion, or gender. Nearly all of us spent months if not years dealing with social isolation, quarantining, and less meaningful social interactions with family and friends from the COVID-19 pandemic, which only exacerbating feelings of loneliness. As May represents Mental Health Awareness Month, it behooves us to understand how being lonely affects our physical and mental health, and steps we can take to improve and foster social connections.

US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, in his recent Op-Ed in The New York Times, writes, “Loneliness is more than just a bad feeling. When people are socially disconnected, their risk of anxiety and depression increases. So does their risk of heart disease (29 percent), dementia (50 percent), and stroke (32 percent). The increased risk of premature death associated with social disconnection is comparable to smoking daily- and may be even greater than the risk associated with obesity.” Being lonely is thus a serious threat to both your physical and mental health. Not only can it increase your chances of developing a mood disorder, it is also directly linked to physical ailments like heart disease and dementia.

Dr. Murthy compared the risk of premature death associated with social disconnection to smoking daily. To put this into perspective, smoking is the leading global cause of preventable death, with tobacco causing more than 7 million deaths worldwide. On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers. These exact numbers, when we speak of premature death, are comparable to individuals that are socially isolated and have pervasive feelings of loneliness.

What can we do to curb loneliness in our families, communities, and nation as a whole? First, we must normalize asking for help if we experience feelings of loneliness, isolation, or despair. Reaching out to friends, family, and support groups can do wonders in turning the page on a crippling illness that can potentially do much harm if not identified and treated. Calling the Nation’s Crisis Lifeline at 988 can also be used to get help right away in speaking to trained mental health professionals.

Next, taking a step back from our busy lives and prioritizing meaningful relationships can allow us to foster social interactions amongst others. Blocking out time in our schedules for a phone conversation with a friend, a date night with our significant other, or taking loved ones to the local park can strengthen bonds of camaraderie, love, and connection. This can only consistently be done if we make social relations a priority and take the time to plan such events and communications.

Finally, we must objectively evaluate what our relationship is with technology and social media. The averageAmerican spends 7 hours and 4 minutes looking at a screen daily. Furthermore, nearly 60% of the world’s population uses social media, and the average user spends 2 hours and 31 minutes daily on social media. At least some of this time could invariably be used to cultivate social interactions in-person as opposed to virtually or on a computer screen. The downstream effect would be one of less isolation and loneliness.

As President Joseph Biden states in his 2023 Proclamation on National Mental Health Awareness Month, “Mental health is health; it affects everyone, regardless of race, gender, politics, race, or income. Promoting it is one of the big things that we can all agree to do together as Americans to make our country stronger.”