Loneliness: More Premature Deaths & Greater Health Risk Than Obesity, Study Shows

Isolation of individuals suggests that loneliness can be deadly in comparison to obesity. People exposed to isolation show more health problem occurrences than that to fat people. More lonely people die of stroke, and the social isolation shows increasing rates to early deaths. Infants lacking social contacts are extreme examples as they fail to thrive and eventually meet their demise.

Countries see increasing population of people exposed to loneliness

With 218 subjects in a study in the United states regarding exposure to isolation and its effects on human health, researchers link the early demise of lonely people in a lot of four million patients suffering the health hazard. The investigation indicates that 50 percent of the patients in the circle of loneliness die earlier than a socialized individual that has the connection to people, in comparison to obesity whose rate of dying is at the age of around 70 which is about 30 percent of the subjects in the research.

Lead author Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Professor at the Brigham Young University in Utah says that people should be prepared socially as well as financially. People are social animals, and the workplace is a direct source of companionship. Take away social relationships, the individual is left alone and begins to fade away gradually, reports The Telegraph.

Loneliness is a growing problem to Public Health

According to research presented at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, being alone has more potential hazard than obesity. Lunstad further states that isolation is a form of punishment for the sins committed to society. Being socially connected is an essential need for humanity's well-being and survival.

In the AARP research, approximately 42.6 million individuals over the age of 45 in the US are suffering from chronic loneliness. National census shows that a quarter of these lonely people are living by themselves, half of the population are single basing from the last national population survey. Marriage is also on the down trend, and fewer children are born, an indication of Americans getting less connected and lonely, reports Psych Central.

Dr. Lunstad recommends that the government include social connectivity directives for community planners. It is imperative that these social projects be integrated into the direction of social awareness to thwart the inception of loneliness.