Read the News, All the Lonely People, Help, Ticket to Ride

Let’s start with a quiz! What are the answers to these three questions?

1. What is associated with a 29% increased risk of heart disease and a 32% increased risk of stroke?

2. What increases the risk of premature death by around 60%?

3. What raises the risk of premature death by as much if not more than smoking 15 cigarettes a day, or drinking 6 alcoholic drinks a day?

If you answered “loneliness” to all three questions, you are correct!

This week the US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an Advisory declaring loneliness and lack of social connections a national public health epidemic. The Advisory’s research-backed data on the impact of loneliness on individuals’ health and the economic costs to individuals, employers, and society are startling. In addition to the health impacts in the above quiz, loneliness and social isolation increase an individual’s risk of other health conditions such as dementia, type 2 diabetes, depression, and anxiety. Stress-related absenteeism due to loneliness costs employers an estimated $154 billion annually and greater workplace loneliness is related to lower job performance.

Is the covid-19 pandemic to blame for the loneliness epidemic? In an interview with Axios, Dr. Murthy said “COVID most recently exacerbated the loneliness that’s been building for decades. In the last half-century, we’ve seen the pace of change has dramatically increased. We communicate differently with people in part because of technology. We change jobs more often. We move more often. That has a profound impact on our relationships with one another.”

The Surgeon General’s Advisory lays a framework for a National Strategy to Advance Social Connection. The framework contains steps that individuals, workplaces, schools, healthcare providers, insurers and others can take to address the loneliness epidemic. Check out All the Lonely People to learn more about the loneliness epidemic!