The Loneliness Epidemic: Social Distancing and Social Disconnection

This third part of the series, How This Pandemic Can Make You Healthier: Turning passive to active, examines how isolation affects health and the importance of addressing loneliness in this pandemic.

We are by nature social animals. A meaningful connection to others is considered a fundamental human need. One measure of how we value interpersonal interaction is our use of isolation as punishment. Whether a child’s time out or a prisoner’s solitary confinement, we inflict suffering through separation.

Until recently, loneliness was thought only to affect us psychologically. We now consider it a powerful determinant of both mental and physical health.

Lacking social connection carries a risk that is comparable to or exceeds that of other well-accepted risk factors such as smoking, obesity and physical inactivity. The lonely are more likely to suffer from coronary artery disease, stroke, high blood pressure, depression, cognitive decline, cancer, impaired immune function and premature mortality.

Why?

Research indicates that it is the immune system of lonely people makes them vulnerable to these diseases. Chronic feelings of social isolation trigger a primordial fight or flight response. In this state, white blood cells (the agents…