Earlier this month, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory calling attention to the public health crisis of loneliness. Loneliness, Murthy warned, is more than just a feeling of being alone. It can adversely affect mental, physical and emotional health. If a person is lonely, they can have a greater risk of developing dementia, a stroke, depression, or anxiety. And it can even lead to a premature death — like smoking 15 cigarettes a day, which is why Murthy is interested in solving this problem from a public health perspective.
"Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis," Murthy wrote in the advisory. "If we fail to do so, we will pay an ever-increasing price in the form of our individual and collective health and well-being."
