The impact on public services and the economy (research has suggested it costs employers in the UK as much as £2.5bn a year) is prompting governments to take some interest in what had previously been regarded as a private problem. The evidence that it is damaging physical as well as mental health has amassed steadily, with one overview of 70 studies finding that it put people at 26% higher risk of early mortality. Analysis published last year suggested that loneliness “at a problematic level” was a global issue. Up to one in four people in the US report experiencing prolonged loneliness, while in the UK, 6% of people said they felt lonely “often” or “always” in the year to September 2022, and 19% reported feeling that way “sometimes”. This is the stark warning from the US surgeon-general, Vivek Murthy, who has released an advisory urging public officials to take loneliness as seriously as matters such as obesity or drug abuse. L acking social connection is as dangerous to health as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day and twice as risky as consuming six alcoholic drinks daily.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |