Why Loneliness Is Something We All Need to Tackle
How often do you feel lonely? Loneliness isn’t about being alone. In fact, you can be surrounded by people but feel completely alone, whether you are at home or at work.
Leadership can be a lonely place too.
More than 70% of new CEOs report feelings of loneliness acoording to e recent Harvard Business Study: It’s Time to Acknowledge CEO Loneliness
At work, loneliness impacts how well you perform and can impact your decision making.
But there’s a stigma attached to admitting you feel lonely.
I recently sat down to talk to British MP Tracey Crouch, the former UK Minister for Loneliness at an event for the Groundswell Foundation.
According to Crouch, the official definition of loneliness is ‘a subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack or loss of companionship’.
It happens when there is a mismatch between the quantity and quality of the social relationships that you have and those that you want now.
The UK was one of the first countries in the world to appoint a minister to tackle loneliness as a public health issue.
She says the move was warmly embraced by the public.
“We had a really strong sense of people wanting to be involved in the debate, wanting to come up with solutions, wanting to sort of kind of be part of the process.
“And that meant that we were able to be really creative and innovative in our starting conversations around how we tackle loneliness, how we connect communities. Together.”
What might surprise you is the significant health risks associated with loneliness.
Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned loneliness was a “growing health epidemic”.
He quoted a paper which said social isolation was “associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”
Even more worrying, a meta analysis of 2 million people showed loneliness and social isolation increased all-cause mortality, dying from any cause by more than one third.
How could that happen?
Experts from the American Psychological Association say loneliness can lead to you being stuck in chronic "fight-or-flight" stress signalling in your body, which can impair the functioning of your immune system.
In other words, people who feel lonely have less immunity and more inflammation than people who don’t.
So what are the solutions?
Often, someone who might be lonely might not put their hand up and say hey, I need companionship.
If you feel lonely or want to help someone who might be struggling, maybe the answer is to start small.
Strengthen your existing connections, even incidental chats with others.
Organise a coffee or walk with someone whose company you enjoy.
Think about like-minded people - what do you enjoy doing and could you spend time with people who enjoy the same things?
Social media gets a bad rap for promoting disconnection from the real world.
But for some people, particularly those with chronic illnesses, it opens an avenue for connection that wouldn’t otherwise exist.
Often interventions that help you look inward to shift negative thought patterns can be effective in combating loneliness.
Dr Christopher Masi and his colleagues at the University of Chicago found mindset interventions seemed to help combat loneliness more than activities designed to improve social skills or increase opportunities for social interaction. (Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 15, No. 3, 2011).
If you want more resources on mental well-being and mindset, head to Sophie's website or Sophie Scott TV
Let’s normalise talking about loneliness. How have you tackled loneliness and what worked to help you cope?
I love getting your thoughts and feedback.
Take care, Soph x