Epidemic Of Loneliness In US— Effects Worse Than Obesity
According to the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide rates have increased by 30% in half of all states since 1999— and they're calling it a "public health issue".
According to survey results, half of all Americans are lonely.
What is loneliness, exactly— and why is it important? Well, according to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), loneliness is “the subjective feeling of having inadequate social connections.” As a species, we have evolved to live in close contact with others. In the past, our ability to survive depended on how well we were able to form close relationships with trust and cooperation.
In fact, relationships with others are so entrenched in our evolutionary history, that loneliness literally creates stress— and leads to the same health problems associated with it.
“Over thousands of years, the value of social connection has become baked into our nervous system such that the absence of such a protective force creates a stress state in the body,” HBR explained.
When people feel lonely, their bodies release cortisol, a stress hormone. High levels of this hormone over an extended time can lead to significant health problems.
“[Cortisol] damages blood vessels and other tissues, increasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, joint disease, depression, obesity, and premature death,” said HBR. “Chronic stress can also hijack your brain’s prefrontal cortex which governs decision-making, planning, emotional regulation, analysis, and abstract thinking.”
“Loneliness and weak social connections are associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day and even greater than that associated with obesity.”
Because of the risks associated with loneliness, Cigna’s results are particularly troublesome.
For the survey, Cigna polled more than 20,000 Americans aged 18 years and older. The participants were then given the UCLA Loneliness Scale, a 20-item questionnaire created to measure loneliness and social isolation. When it came to scoring, a score of 43 or higher was considered lonely. The average loneliness score for Americans was 44— leading researchers to conclude that most Americans experience loneliness on a daily basis.
Sad insights have arisen from the survey:
Nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feeling alone (46%)
1 in 5 Americans report feeling like there is no one they can talk to
Adults aged 18-22 are the loneliest generation (Generation Z)
But Cigna has also presented some enlightening information on how to beat loneliness, too.
“People who engage in frequent meaningful in-person interactions have much lower loneliness scores and report better health than those who rarely interact with others face to face,” they write.
“Getting the right balance of sleep, work, socializing with friends, family and “me time” is connected to lower loneliness scores. However, balance is critical, as those who get too little or too much of these activities have higher loneliness scores.”
The recent suicides of designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain have shed light on issues related to depression and loneliness.
However, researchers note that more than 54% of people who commit suicide do not have any known mental health problems.
“Instead, these folks were suffering from other issues, such as relationship problems, substance misuse, physical health problems, job or financial problems, and recent crises or things that were coming up in their lives that they weren’t anticipating,” Deborah Stone, a behavior scientists at the CDC, told NPR.
According to the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide rates have increased by 30% in half of all states since 1999— and they’re calling it a “public health issue.”
“The increase in suicide rates was highest in the central, northern regions of the US, with North Dakota, for example seeing a 57.6% increase since 1999,” reported NPR. “Nevada was the only state that saw no increase and Delaware saw the smallest increase which was 5.9%.”
