How Is the Loneliness Epidemic Affecting Society? | The Stream

Jun 28, 2024 | The loneliness epidemic profoundly affects Gen Z. Despite being hyperconnected through social media, they experience high levels of isolation, worsened by the pandemic. The consequences are severe, leading to mental health crises, increased rates of depression and anxiety, and a sense of disconnection from community and purpose.

A study by Cigna found Gen Z (ages 18-22) is the loneliest generation, with nearly half feeling lonely. What can be done to address this growing mental health crisis?

Presenter: Anelise Borges

Guests: Annie Ji - Sociocultural YouTuber
Esther Fernandez - Copywriter
Simone Heng - Human connection specialist

I'm Scared of Spending the Rest of My Life Alone | The Age of Loneliness | Absolute Documentaries

Mar 4, 2022 | In this absolute documentary, people from all walks of life talk honestly about their experiences with loneliness, from a 19-year-old student to a 100-year-old woman. It investigates the social isolation in modern society that many people of all age and class suffer from.

WHO Declares Loneliness a ‘Global Public Health Concern’

GUARDIAN EUROPE: The World Health Organization has launched an international commission on loneliness, which can be as bad for people’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared loneliness to be a pressing global health threat, with the US surgeon general saying that its mortality effects are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

WHO has launched an international commission on the problem – led by the US surgeon general, Dr Vivek Murthy, and the African Union youth envoy, Chido Mpemba – of 11 advocates and government ministers, including Ralph Regenvanu, the minister of climate change adaptation in Vanuatu, and Ayuko Kato, the minister in charge of measures for loneliness and isolation in Japan.

It comes after the Covid-19 pandemic halted economic and social activity, increasing levels of loneliness, but also amid a new awareness of the importance of the issue. The commission will run for three years. » | Sarah Johnson | Thursday, November 16, 2023

Every bloody thing bad must be compared with smoking cigarettes these days! Smoking cigarettes, one of the greatest pleasures in everyday life, has been turned into the bête noire of our day. These people touting this fantasy are batshit crazy! And as dumb as they come! Don’t they realise that by waging this ongoing war on cigarettes and smoking that they have caused the very problem – loneliness – that they now are trying to combat?

As an ex-smoker, and as a widower, I know a thing or two about smoking and loneliness. I can tell you that when you make all public places out of bounds for smokers, you are creating the very problem of loneliness, especially among older generations, for whom enjoying a smoke was a given right in life. That is until the health Nazis got involved.

What does a smoker do when he is retired, and probably lost his life’s partner? Where can he/she go to enjoy him-/herself and meet some like-minded friends? Cafés, pubs, hotel bars, restaurants or any other space where people gather are well and truly out of bounds these days. And because people have been made paranoid about the dubious dangers of second-hand smoke, friends don’t want you smoking in their homes either. Almost all are snowflakes these days.

For WHO’s information, there are health benefits to smoking cigarettes, especially light smoking. People in the World Health Organisation should check them out on Google! Even though it is true that not smoking is healthier than smoking in an ideal world, we do not live in Utopia. And there are REAL benefits to smoking a few cigarettes.

Moreover, don’t these people realise that EVERYTHING in life is bad for your health if not done in moderation. Moderation is key to all healthy living. Too much food, especially the junk people generally eat today, is bad for you. Drinking too much is bad for you. Walking down a street with cars puffing out exhaust is terrible for your health. And what about the health dangers in smoking soft drugs on which laws are being relaxed at a rapid pace in many Western countries, and all the health dangers of opioids? Turn your attention to the REAL dangers to health! So, for heaven’s sake, stop comparing all things bad and unhealthy with smoking a few cigarettes. It is so tiring to hear the same old record, over and over and over again.

If you really wish to combat loneliness, relax the laws on smoking in public places. Provide smoking areas for smokers. Let smokers meet their friends for a chinwag, instead of confining them to their homes.

It must also be said that with your stupid war on smoking, you have created a generation of paranoid people – people who mistakenly think that even if they get a few whiffs of second-hand smoke, they are doomed to a certain death from lung cancer! How stupid can you get? If they were only to consult good sources on Google, they would discover that it is only about 10%, maximum 20%, of HEAVY smokers that end up with lung cancer. And as for Parkinson’s disease and possibly also Alzheimer’s disease, smoking can have a protective effect. So go put that in your pipe and smoke it! – © Mark Alexander

Loneliness Is Causing Our Physical and Mental Health to Suffer | DW News

May 26, 2023 | Everyone is lonely at times. But chronic loneliness can make you sick. Earlier this month, US surgeon general shone a light on the problems associated with loneliness by declaring it an American epidemic. He said the growing isolation in society poses a health risk as deadly as smoking. In an 80-page report Doctor Vivek Murthy said: "We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience. It's like hunger or thirst. ItLoneliness as dangerous as smokings a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing."

Everything these days has to be compared with the dangers of smoking! It is sickening! Truly sickening! Smoking has become the bête noire of our age, as though there were nothing worse to do than smoke a cigarette. I can assure you that it is all bullshit! There are far worse things to do to your health than enjoy a cigarette. Until April 2022, I had smoked almost all of my adult life, twenty cigarettes a day, and I am still here to tell the tale.

If you listen to doctors, many of whom have never smoked a cigarette in their entire lives and therefore know nothing at all about smoking and the pleasure it gives one, but still feel qualified to pontificate on the habit, one could easily draw the conclusion that smoking is the provenance of all things evil and unhealthy. It is not! There are far unhealthier pursuits than smoking a few cigarettes. The danger is in the dose. Believe me, in this day and age, with all the bad things that people engage in, if all one has to worry about is the odd cigarette, then one is a very lucky person!

Although I am no longer a smoker, I wish this war on tobacco and cigarette-smoking would end. It already sounds like a broken reocrd. – © Mark Alexander

The Guardian View on Loneliness: Private Pain Should Be a Public Priority

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The personal anguish of those who long for meaningful ties has social causes – and social and economic costs

Lacking 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. 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.

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”. Analysis published last year suggested that loneliness “at a problematic level” was a global issue. 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. 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. » | Editorial | Monday, May 8, 2023

Related with my commentary.

Surgeon General Discusses Health Risks of Loneliness and Steps to Help Connect with Others

May 3, 2023 | The U.S. Surgeon General declared a new public health epidemic in America, loneliness. A new report finds loneliness can have profound effects on mental health as well as heart disease, stroke and dementia. It tracks a decline in social connections and links all this to billions of dollars in health care costs. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy joined Amna Nawaz to discuss the risks.

Should it be any wonder to the authorities that loneliness is such a big problem in society today? In recent decades, Western governments have done all in their powers to destroy families and family life, including in the case of the United Kingdom, stopping benefits for women having children—called ‘Family Allowance’ back in the day—and introducing law after law, often originally with good intenetions, but ultimately with deleterious consequences, which have led to social isolation of many people. More especially the elderly.

Let us take an example: Smoking bans. Smoking bans have done nothing but cause loneliness for hundreds of thousands of people, probably millions, because smokers are unwelcome in all places these days: cafés, pubs, restaurants, hotels, and many other venues besides. Just this one obsession that politicians have with smoking has caused untold damage to the smoker’s ability to interact with his/her peers.

I speak as an ex-smoker. So it no longer affects me. However, because I am an ex-smoker, I can feel for those that still enjoy a cigarette. Nobody wants you in their homes anymore; and, furthermore, by law, they can go nowhere out in public and be themselves. So, if they are like I used to be, they chose to stay at home instead.

We know that excessive smoking can cause major health issues. But excessive anything can! But in moderation? I don’t think so! All things done in moderation are far less likely to wreak havoc with one’s health. In fact, by the Surgeon General’s own admission, loneliness can be every bit as damaging to people’s health as smoking can.

At the risk of being shouted down, I will also say the followinG: Ever since the Sixties/Seventies, women have been encouraged to go out to work. Women have been indoctrinated with the ridiculous notion that children do not need mothers at home. But, in reality, they do! At least somebody. Children don’t bring themselves up. When left unattended, children are in danger of running wild. One need observe only plants in the garden! A plant, if left unattended, will revert to its wild state. Isn’t this what we are observing today in our Western populations? One need only listen to the vocabulary used by young people today!

Western governments and their stupid, so-called progressive policies have caused a lot of this loneliness. How a widower in years-gone-by could have connected with his friends at the pub and enjoy a pint and a smoke. Or for others, gone to a café and do something similar: smoke, drink coffee and chat. But who today wants to go out and meet his friends with such draconian restrictions? Further, it is risky to drive if one has drunk even one or two drinks.

Am I advocating being able to drink and drive? No, of course not. But I am pointing out a few of the reasons why loneliness is on the rise. – © Mark Alexander

Loneliness Is Worse for Your Health Than Smoking Cigarettes

New research has revealed that loneliness has a more significant impact on a person's health than smoking cigarettes.

I really, truly believe this. I have never believed that smoking tobacco is as harmful to health as they have made it out to be. Put simply: People have been fed a load of crap!

The devil is in the dose, as it is for everything. Eating and nutrition is essential to life; but if we eat too much, especially certain foods like carbs and sugars, eating is no longer essential to life, but injurious to it.

The old adages, “enjoy everything in moderation” and “a little bit of what you fancy does you good” are important to bear in mind here.

I believe that if we eat nutritious food (and not too much of it), do not overindulge in alcohol, sleep plenty and worry little, a few cigarettes won’t do you too much harm. That is my theory and I am sticking too it.

If you listen to the so-called experts on smoking and tobacco today, you would be forgiven for thinking that enjoying a cigarette is the very worst thing you can do for your health. Smoking has become the bête noire of our age. If you smoke, you will lose all your hair, your teeth will fall out, you will suffer from unhealthy gums (gingivitis), you will probably lose a limb or two and you will cough yourself to death.

I am sure that there are some unfortunate people for whom this scenario might be a reality; and for those people, I feel sorry. But I can assure you that this has not been my experience of smoking. I have smoked twenty cigarettes a day for most of my adult life. Despite this, I have a very full head of very dark hair, a mouthful of teeth, unwrinkled skin, and my eyesight is very good. I have never suffered from a cough either.

Tomorrow is October 10th. It will be six months since I smoked my last cigarette. I have had no cravings since I stopped. However, there is a pleasure missing in my life: the enjoyment of a smoke. For this reason, I am toying with the idea of whether I should take up the habit again. I have yet to decide. I would add that I am sick to death of the bullshit that the medical profession and the politicians feed us re smoking. – © Mark Alexander

Facing Loneliness: In & Out of the Closet

Sep 15, 2016 • Jim from Ohio picked the topic this week: "Loneliness — how to deal with it and how to manage it."

Loneliness Epidemic As Deadly As Smoking | 60 Minutes Australia

In Australia, and around the world, loneliness has become a massive health epidemic. In fact, researchers say being lonely is just as detrimental to our wellbeing as smoking and excessive drinking. And that means loneliness can be deadly. Just as worrying, it doesn’t discriminate. Loneliness can strike anyone, young, old, male, female, rich or poor.

Extreme Loneliness Worse for Health Than Obesity and Can Lead to an Early Grave, Scientists Say

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Feeling extreme loneliness on a long-term basis can be worse than obesity in terms of increasing the potentially lethal health risks that lead to premature death, scientists said.

Chronic loneliness has been shown to increase the chances of an early grave by 14 per cent, which is as bad as being overweight and almost as bad as poverty in undermining a person’s long-term wellbeing, a study has found.

As more people live longer, they are spending a bigger part of their lives feeling lonely. This is having a significant impact on their physical as well as mental health, the researchers found.

Loneliness is also becoming more common as people live alone or become isolated from relatives and friends, especially in retirement. Research has shown that at any given time between 20 and 40 per cent of older adults feel lonely. » | Steve Connor, Chicago | Sunday, February 16, 2014