Loneliness can have serious economic, social, and wellbeing ramifications. In a previous post, we’ve explored the common causes and trends of loneliness. This post will discuss the associated costs and implications of loneliness along with some approaches to address the issue both from an individual and a systematic level.
What are the implications of loneliness ?
Economic Implications
The economic implications of loneliness are only recently starting to gain attention. The New Economics Foundation reports that loneliness incurs UK employers a total cost of £2.5 billion per year. Other researchers estimate that the “epidemic of loneliness” costs £6,000 per person in health costs and pressure on local services Researchers for Gallup found that having strong social connections at work makes employees more likely to be engaged with their jobs, motivated to produce higher-quality work, and less likely to fall sick or be injured. Without strong social connections, these gains become losses.
Health Implications
The health-related complications associated with loneliness are tangible. Social and emotional pain is as real to us as physical pain. Researchers have shown that loneliness and rejection activate the same parts of the brain as physical pain.
The organization, Cost of Loneliness writes that “ loneliness is to suicide, addiction, and cardiovascular disease, as poor hygiene is to infection.” While loneliness is not the sole cause of these health issues, it can play a significant role. A 2010 study reported that lacking social connections is as harmful to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Loneliness has also been linked to poor mental health. More than a third of people who responded to a survey by Mental Health Foundation, reported feeling depressed as a result of feeling lonely.
Wellbeing Implications
Loneliness is also highly correlated with happiness and subjective wellbeing. Subjective wellbeing (SWB) is a measurement of how individuals evaluate their own lives. Studies show that people with weaker social ties report lower levels of subjective wellbeing. For instance, non-religious people often report less life satisfaction than religious people. Part of the explanation is the regular social contact within the religious community. In another study of Blue Zones (where people often live to be over 100), the top two predictors for life longevity were, 1) number of close relationships and 2) level of social integration.
According to Robert Waldinger, a Harvard Medical School professor, “close relationships and social connections keep you happy and healthy. ” Yet, in many places of the world, particularly cities, we see a growing trend of the exact opposite: disintegrating social fabric and weakening close relationships.
How to Move Forward
The serious economic, health and wellbeing consequences associated with the loneliness pandemic highlight why we should be re-thinking how we view loneliness and what can be done to address it, both from an individual and systemic level.
From an individual level
One of the most important things we can do to address loneliness from an individual level is changing the way we feel about ourselves when we are alone. A recent review found that strategies to reduce loneliness that target negative thought processes were the most successful.
One way to do this is to reframe the sensation of loneliness as an opportunity for solitude. It is impossible to completely avoid aloneness in life, so why not try to find joy in those moments? The benefits of embracing solitude are many: it can help you unwind, reboot your brain and improve concentration and productivity. It can also help you find your own voice and give you an independence that makes you less likely to cling to unhealthy relationships.
So you may ask, how can we become comfortable with solitude? As with anything, this is something we must learn and re-program our minds to understand. Making a conscious choice to spend time with yourself and being comfortable in your own company is the first step. We can also begin to dedicate certain times in our day where we completely disconnect from digital devices. By making time to cut out the unnecessary noise throughout our day, we can then make space for sitting with ourselves and connecting on a deeper level.
Another thing we can do at an individual level is make a conscious effort to strengthen our social connections. Practicing our social skills and improving the way we communicate and connect with others is one approach, though this may be difficult for some people.
Some ways we can increase our social relationships:
- Volunteer with a local organization
- Start a whatsapp group in your building or community for discussion, sharing resources, and organizing events.
- Start or join a community garden
- Join MeetUp groups in your interest area
- Call and/or spend time with your relatives, or ‘adopt’ a grandparent for a regular chat and te
From a systemic level
The broader trends perpetuating the loneliness pandemic must also be addressed systemically.
First, it is critical that loneliness becomes recognized as a health and economic issue. In the United Kingdom, so far only 61 out of 152 local health and wellbeing boards have recognised loneliness as an issue in their core health and wellbeing strategy. The first step to making any change is wide public acknowledgment of the issue. A study from the London School of Economics says that for every £1 spent in preventing loneliness there are £3 of savings. With a statistic like this it’s difficult to understand why there wouldn’t be more invested into the condition.
Secondly, we must encourage community-oriented design. Incorporating social and wellbeing considerations into the plans and designs of urban developers could encourage more personal interactions could help re-build community feeling. Studies of co-housing arrangements, in which people share communal areas and resources such as a garden, kitchen, and playroom, have shown higher levels of wellbeing and reduced levels of loneliness. For instance, a study by the Co-housing Research Network showed that 96% of co-housing residents reported an improved quality of life as compared to life before co-housing, while 75% stated they had better physical health than others their age. These findings, and similar studies, should persuade city governments to pursue policies that encourage a greater level of human interaction.
What do you think?
Loneliness is more than simply a sad feeling, it’s something that is impacting our health and wellbeing and burdening our public financial resources. As the world begins to awaken to the growing pandemic, it will be critical to openly discuss the causes, implications and solutions to loneliness if we plan to tackle the much larger social issues around it.
I would love to hear from you: What are the implications of loneliness that you have seen? What kinds of approaches for addressing loneliness are you aware of? Have you experienced the benefits of a shared-living lifestyle? Please post below.