Experts say the lonely are not just sadder; they are unhealthier and die younger. Loneliness is as deadly as smoking fifteen (15) sticks of cigarette daily, it’s as lethal as consuming at least six (6) liters of hard alcoholic drinks daily. A recent study shows that when people don’t socialize with friends, relatives or families, they risk having an early trip to the grave by 39%, and so does the risk of death from heart disease by 53%.
It gets even more complicated for those that live alone, they have a 77% higher risk of early death from heart complications or stroke. Readers might ask themselves what the word loneliness means in this contest. Well, it’s a gap between the level of connectedness you want and what you actually have. It’s different from being alone or socially isolated. Loneliness is a subjective feeling; people can have multiple contacts or large families and still feel lonely.
Bit by bit, loneliness is like a sort of hunger or thirst. It’s a healthy sign to show that you are missing something. But when it’s prolonged over time, it can emerge to be life threatening. The human brain has evolved overtime to influence our body responses in face of danger. The brain views loneliness as a threat and when lonely, its danger monitor goes into an overdrive that will trigger what we call a hyperarousal or the acute stress response, a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event or threat to survival.
When lonely, your heart rate shoots up, your blood pressure and sugar levels spike, you begin to see other people as potential threats, and not friends. This creates a vicious circle when you fear loneliness which even makes you lonelier hence high chances of developing stress, dementia, inflammation, poor immunity, depression, personality disorders and suicide.
This is not as rare as you may think, World over atleast 33% of adults are lonely. The highest number are cited in Brazil, followed by Turkey, India, Saudi Arabia, Italy, and South Africa. In fact, annual reports from the West show that the statistics of people who die due to loneliness is way much higher than those that die due terror attacks and murders. We know what it is, we know how to cure it, it also costs relatively little, and yet it is difficult to beat because we live in a paradoxical world.
Today the world is more connected than ever before through internet and social media, but this is making humanity even more isolated. According to reports, loneliness nearly doubled between 2012 and 2018, which coincides with the explosion of social media use and now an entire generation is at risk
Latest polls put the young adults twice as likely as seniors to report loneliness. This is because time with screens cannot substitute time with humans. The step to tackle loneliness are not high tech, one of the best strategies is to go the old school way, eat meals together, hold parties, hangouts, or play sports together, get to know your neighbors. It could be anything you like, just do it at least once a month with someone else, in flesh and blood or over a call. However, you should take caution that playing a virtual ping-pong of Instagram or Facebook reels don’t count.
At this point, loneliness is not just an individual problem but rather an epidemic, it’s a health crisis that demands government attention and involvement. Britain did it, it got Tracey Crouch its first minister for loneliness in 2018, I know it sounds bizarre and less obvious than defense or finance ministries, but many countries now think this position is a necessity. For instance, in 2021 the Japanese prime minister appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto as the country’s first ministers for loneliness and social affairs. Sweden also has Jakob Forssmed as its minister for Social Affairs and Public Health. There are even talks in other countries for the same post too.
Some countries have even gone as far as employing other measures. For instance, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Ireland and Australia have adopted what we call the chat benches where strangers can meet and talk to each other. The solutions might be difficult but my point is quite clear that as a species, humans are not meant to be lonely. We have to form connections like our life depends on it because it actually does. Philosophers say you die alone but what they don’t tell you is that it may happen a lot sooner if you are lonely.
Samuel Obedgiu is Plant scientist and Civic human rights activist
Email. sammyobedgiu@gmail.com
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