The surgeon general says loneliness is as deadly as smokingThe US Surgeon General is sounding an alarm: Americans are more lonely and socially disconnected than ever, and it’s a serious threat to their physical and mental health that demands urgent policy action.
A new report from the Surgeon General says that social isolation’s effects on mortality are equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes every day. Social isolation (an objective measure of lacking connection to families, friends, and community) and loneliness (a subjective measure of feeling disconnected) contribute to a person having a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, anxiety, depression, and dementia, and make people more susceptible to infectious diseases.
Those individual health effects ripple out into the broader community. Communities with more social cohesion have less disease and lower all-cause mortality than those with less so-called social capital. They are better prepared for natural disasters and experience less violence.
Reports from the surgeon general are reserved for urgent public health issues that require immediate action — and the nation’s top public health official argues that loneliness and isolation qualify.
“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,” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote in the opening of the report...........
..................But in broad strokes, the report recommends six pillars for making Americans feel more connected and less isolated from one another:
Strengthen the social infrastructure: more communal spaces, more social activities, and better infrastructure to help people access them
Develop “pro-connection” public policies that account for the need to foster connection when passing laws or formulating regulations, from transportation to education to housing
Mobilize the health sector: train health care providers to identify people at risk of isolation and better equip providers to connect patients with the other forms of social support they may need
Reform digital environments: require more transparency from large tech companies and establish safeguards (such as restrictions for young people) that could ameliorate the worst effects of social media on vulnerable populations
Deepen our knowledge: support academic research and public information campaigns to improve our understanding of the connections between isolation and health and make people more aware of the problem in the first place
Cultivate a culture of connection: use all of the vectors available, from politics to entertainment, to reinforce the values of connection and reduce the polarization that can lead to people feeling more isolated in our modern age..........
https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/5/3/23707936/surgeon-general-loneliness-epidemic-report
