Loneliness is killing us. It’s considered as dangerous as one of the greatest causes of premature death, smoking. Research by the Australian Psychological Society and Swinburne University, the first extensive national study on the topic, finds that one in four Australians is lonely.
We have become increasingly aware in recent decades of the profound links between mental and physical wellbeing. Overall health and contentment depend on both, and mental and physical states can feed positively or negatively into each other, depending on support and treatment.
Loneliness is a public health problem.Credit:Tribune Life
Emerging from this realisation is that loneliness is not merely a universal source of human sadness that can lead to depression and anxiety, the most common forms of mental illness, but is an acute public health problem.
Studies around the world show loneliness is associated with elevated risks of dementia and chronic disease, and with early death. It undermines the immune system and pairs with poor cardiovascular health.
Loneliness is broadly defined as being distressingly unsatisfied with one’s personal and social relationships. Often, this simply means too few people with whom to talk and share daily existence. It hits people of all ages, and men and women equally.
Poor physical health has long been recognised as a cause of mental illness – chronic pain, for example, is a common cause of depression – but there is a growing understanding that the inverse is true, too. Loneliness can lead to poor health choices and lifestyles. It is fundamentally different to solitude, which is sought rather than suffered.
Contentment – a better measure than happiness, which can depend on unrealistic, self-defeating aspirations – can be seen as a function of three things: empathy, gratefulness and living in the present, rather than lamenting the past and/or feeling unduly unsettled about the future. The antidote to debilitating loneliness is connection with people and communities.
One of the saddest statistics is that as many as 40 per cent of people in aged care receive no visitors. That can be fixed by families and friends being aware of their loved ones’ needs and simply dropping in to talk. It can be fixed by initiatives including linking students and older people, an experience that enriches both. It can be fixed by planning and public policy that helps people remain in their homes and communities, receiving care in place rather than having to move into a foreign environment.
What else might we do? Britain has just appointed the world’s first minister for loneliness, a move Fiona Patten, Victorian upper house member and leader of the Reason Party, advocates emulating. Her suggestion merits debate.
At the individual level we can turn off social media if it’s becoming a hindrance to, rather than an enhancer of, meaningful connection. We can buck the modern practice of never dropping in on friends, family or neighbours unannounced. Then there is the wonderful world of volunteering.
One in four Australians (not the lonely quarter) is a volunteer at one or more of the nation’s 600,000 community organisations – ranging from local sporting clubs to political and social advocacy. And a simple smile can change someone’s day.
- A note from the editor – Subscribers can get Age editor Alex Lavelle's exclusive weekly newsletter delivered to their inbox by signing up here: www.theage.com.au/editornote
Source: Read Full Article