Being alone is never easy, and a new report has found that it’s not only extremely common among American adults, but it also carries a serious health risk.
According to the report from the United States Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, around half of all US adults have experienced loneliness, which carries the same health risks as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
“In recent years, about one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic cut off so many of us from friends, loved ones, and support systems, exacerbating loneliness and isolation,” Murthy wrote in his report.
Murthy argues in his report that loneliness has become a lethal pandemic. He says that if it’s not addressed properly, it could bring dire consequences.
In his report, he writes that loneliness “is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death.”
“Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis,” Murthy wrote.
But the report from the surgeon general isn’t the first to look at the growing trend of loneliness in America.
Even though Americans can connect with friends, family, and coworkers quicker and easier than ever thanks to technology, the US has dropped out of the top 20 countries in Gallup’s World Happiness Report since it began in 2012.
In the latest Gallup report, which collects self-reported happiness from every US age group, the nation fell to 23 after being at 15 the previous year.
The study found that work can have a significant impact on whether or not a person feels loneliness and unhappiness in their personal lives.
According to data from the Cigna Loneliness Index, which was published in the Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, loneliness carries a wide impact, as it can strongly affect an organization or workplace.
In total, the Cigna report found that 62% of employed adults consider themselves lonely, which has been found to impact sales, productivity, retention, and more. It has also been found to create a pattern of absenteeism that could otherwise be avoided.
Through that absenteeism, loneliness costs employers more than $154 billion each year in lost productivity.
As for what can be done to address the crisis, Murthy says that by working to create stronger communities the loneliness pandemic could come to pass.
“By taking small steps every day to strengthen our relationships, and by supporting community efforts to rebuild social connection, we can rise to meet this moment together,” he wrote.