Combating Loneliness
Loneliness has become a latter-day epidemic, and it affects far more people than we can imagine. Researchers have found three out of four Americans report suffering from serious loneliness, with 22% feeling highly lonely and 54% saying they are moderately lonely. If you have felt lonely recently, you are not alone. And the dangers of loneliness are very real. Studies have shown loneliness to have the same impact on our life expectancy as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, putting it in the same risk pool as being an alcoholic or morbidly obese. It can lead to cognitive decline, Alzheimer's, heart disease, depression, and suicide. This research has led Julianne Holt-Lunstad, an associate professor of psychology at BYU, where she also serves as social psychology chair, to say, "We need to start taking our social relationships as seriously as our health. 1 " So how can we combat loneliness? First, and most importantly, we can recognize that lonelin...