Loneliness is considered a health issue because it has serious impacts on our mental and physical health. Research shows it can increase the risk of heart disease, arthritis, type-2 diabetes, and can increase the risk of premature death and accelerate cognitive decline.
Earlier this year, the U.S. surgeon general published an advisory claiming the health risks associated with loneliness are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
So how did we get to the point where something each and every one of us should be able to do something about needs to be recognised as a global epidemic and health threat?
Covid gave us a reality check - our children were isolated from their peers, workers isolated from office culture, and our elderly isolated from family and friends. It’s something we should all be aware of.
What’s interesting about what the World Health Organisation has come out with is that rates of loneliness are similar all over the world, regardless of a country’s status and level of income. And we’ve already seen some countries take it seriously – in the UK a Minister of Loneliness was appointed in 2018. Apparently the announcement was greeted with humour on both sides of the Atlantic, but since then the Japanese Government and the Victorian state Government have done the same, in 2021.
It turns out they were on the money when they recognised this growing issue.
We’ve been measuring loneliness in New Zealand for a while. The latest survey in May found younger people (aged 15-24) are more likely than other age groups to be lonely. It makes sense; we’re not just talking about social isolation, but also social alienation, a feeling of not ‘fitting in’ which so many young people struggle with. The other demographic who struggle are older people.
Yesterday, Newsroom ran an article from researchers Claire Dale and Susan St John talking about who is going to care for us when we grow old – the article deals with a different subject, but their stats were eye opening.
“By mid-century the numbers over 65 years are expected to nearly double (from 790,000 in 2020 to around 1.4 million). The baby-boomers will all be over 85 where the numbers roughly treble (from 88,000 in 2020 to around 300,000).”
If we're going to care for this 'looming tsunami of older baby boomers' then the WHO is onto something. Maybe starting to think about strategies for dealing with loneliness – for all ages - now isn't as silly as it sounds.
Francesca is a well known film reviewer, writes for NZ Herald's Timeout magazine, and contributes to Jack Tame's Newstalk show. This article was first published HERE
So how did we get to the point where something each and every one of us should be able to do something about needs to be recognised as a global epidemic and health threat?
Covid gave us a reality check - our children were isolated from their peers, workers isolated from office culture, and our elderly isolated from family and friends. It’s something we should all be aware of.
What’s interesting about what the World Health Organisation has come out with is that rates of loneliness are similar all over the world, regardless of a country’s status and level of income. And we’ve already seen some countries take it seriously – in the UK a Minister of Loneliness was appointed in 2018. Apparently the announcement was greeted with humour on both sides of the Atlantic, but since then the Japanese Government and the Victorian state Government have done the same, in 2021.
It turns out they were on the money when they recognised this growing issue.
We’ve been measuring loneliness in New Zealand for a while. The latest survey in May found younger people (aged 15-24) are more likely than other age groups to be lonely. It makes sense; we’re not just talking about social isolation, but also social alienation, a feeling of not ‘fitting in’ which so many young people struggle with. The other demographic who struggle are older people.
Yesterday, Newsroom ran an article from researchers Claire Dale and Susan St John talking about who is going to care for us when we grow old – the article deals with a different subject, but their stats were eye opening.
“By mid-century the numbers over 65 years are expected to nearly double (from 790,000 in 2020 to around 1.4 million). The baby-boomers will all be over 85 where the numbers roughly treble (from 88,000 in 2020 to around 300,000).”
If we're going to care for this 'looming tsunami of older baby boomers' then the WHO is onto something. Maybe starting to think about strategies for dealing with loneliness – for all ages - now isn't as silly as it sounds.
Francesca is a well known film reviewer, writes for NZ Herald's Timeout magazine, and contributes to Jack Tame's Newstalk show. This article was first published HERE
6 comments:
It’s amazing the forms that “woke” can take. Now we’re worried about a global pandemic of loneliness…give me strength! This is in an age of mass electronic communication. And step outside your door and you’ll trip over endless support groups for anything and everything. If you’re lonely go join something! Go into town or even the supermarket and chat to people.
Imagine how the early settlers must have felt leaving Europe, travelling for 3 months in crowded leaky boats, to arrive in a hostile land of mud and few people. To then relocate out into the bush to carve an existence. Try asking them “Are you lonely?” Get over yourselves…
So WHO pushed for us all to be forced into isolation, then it's concerned there is a rise in loneliness?
How much do these idiots get paid to come up with this rubbish. How do they keep a straight face when they sign off on the press release.
I don't suppose that locking everyone down, scaring the bejesus out of them, and strong-arming them into wearing face-masks and keeping away from their fellow humans would have anything to do with it.
And who was it that pushed all these things - WHO indeed.
A more corrupt, in-the-pocket of big Pharma organisation you could not hope to find. Basically, a mini-me of the UN.
Just like their latest plans to allow only them to lock us all down in the future.
WHO needs it, or them for that matter.
What a load of woke timid crap. What happened to old fashioned personal responsibility? People can go to the local library, borrow books and meet people, read newspapers or go on-line. Join volunteer organisations such as the SPCA opp shop or the Salvation army shops where you can meet many interesting folks, take up outdoor or indoor bowls, the options are endless. In most Asian countries the family always take care of the elderly without depending on the government or expecting handouts. In NZ we now have a couple of generations of useless entitled wimps thanks to the high-jacking of our education system by woke socialist academics and corrupt left governments bribing the mainstream media. Kiwialan.
I do not see it as trivial. The world is far less communal today. Small scattered families a major problem. And work now dominates many women as well as men. little time for others and elderly parents. It is an area where maori with many offspring and state subsidised community propoganda centres (marae) have advantage.
Waiting for big pharma to release a new drug to deal with loneliness 🙄
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