Loneliness, An Underrated Significant Health Risk?
According to the most recent statistics, loneliness is at "epidemic" levels in the U.S. In a 2018 Cigna insurance health survey 1 , 2 , 3 of 20,000 individuals aged 18 and over: 46% report sometimes or always feeling lonely 47% say they feel left out 47% say they do not have meaningful in-person social interactions or extended conversations on daily basis 43% sometimes or always feel the relationships they have aren't meaningful 43% report feeling isolated The loneliest are young adults between the ages of 18 and 22. This age group also rated their health the lowest, which correlates with science linking loneliness with a greater risk for obesity, 4 heart disease, 5 anxiety, 6 dementia 7 and reduced life span. 8 In fact, maintaining strong and healthy social connections has been linked to a 50% reduced risk of early death. 9 , 10 Similarly, emotional loneliness is linked with...