"Loneliness is hazardous to your health—and more psychologists and doctors are calling for a public-health campaign to fight it.
“This has been underappreciated in the past,” says Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, “but cumulative data over hundreds of studies with millions of participants provides robust evidence of the importance of social connections for physical health and risk for premature mortality.”
Social isolation, loneliness and living alone all have a significant effect on risk of early death—and the risk is equal to or greater than major health problems such as obesity, according to one of two meta-analyses of data from multiple studies that Dr. Holt-Lunstad presented in August at an American Psychological Association convention. The second, which looked at data from 148 studies, found that having greater social connections is associated with a 50% reduced risk of premature death."
[For more on this story by Emily Holland, go to https://www.wsj.com/articles/t...oneliness-1505268240]
Illustration: A rise in single-person households, higher divorce rates and focus on social media over in-person communication may be contributing to increased loneliness. ILLUSTRATION: JUN CEN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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