Fighting loneliness
How America’s top doc fights loneliness
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wants America to see loneliness as one of our top health challenges, Axios’ Tina Reed writes.
Why it matters: Studies have estimated that the impact of social isolation on mortality is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, according to an advisory warning Murthy issued today.
- Loneliness can increasethe risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke and premature death.
- It’s also expensive, with social isolation among older adults accounting for $6.7 billion in excess Medicare spending annually. That’s largely due to increased hospital and nursing facility spending.
“In the last half-century we’ve seen the pace of change has dramatically increased,” Murthy told Axios in an interview.
- “We communicate differently with people in part because of technology. … We’ve seen more of a shift to online interaction in place of in-person interaction.”
- “We change jobsmore often. We move more often.”
- “That has a profound impact on our relationships with one another.”
Between the lines: The effect on young people has been especially profound, Murthy said.
- “In the last two decades,there’s been about a 50% decline in the amount of face time young people have with other people.”
Murthy shared his personal antidote to loneliness.
- “I create sacred spacesin my life where I’m spending time with people and not with technology. That is at dinnertime with my family, it’s when I’m getting my kids ready for bed, and it’s when I’m having dinner with friends.
“The second thing I do is I now make it a point to actually pick up my phone when my friends call.”
- “[S]o often when we’re busy or we only have a few minutes, we may silence the call and figure we’ll text them later,” Murthy added.
- “But I’ve been finding that even if I just pick up the phone for 10 seconds and say — ‘Hey, I can’t talk now but can I call you later?’ — just hearing their voice and their hearing my voice makes us both feel so much better than taking that same time to send a text message.”
Πηγή: axios.com
Plus
-America’s plan to tackle the loneliness epidemic
In the years before the Covid pandemic, around half of all US adults reported experiencing loneliness, according to a new report published by the office of Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. And in what may come as a shocker, America’s loneliness problem hasn’t exactly improved since then.
But US health officials have a plan to turn Mr. Lonely → Mr. Popular. Outlined in yesterday’s report was a new national strategy to combat loneliness.
Συνέχεια εδώ
info photo: Vivek Murthy
