Loneliness: The Other Epidemic (Mental Health)

You're busy: You work from home, you exercise, you manage your household chores and you now meet friends over video calls. Life seems all sorted, you seem to have learned the "newnormal" well, but is it so?


More and more people are experiencing the dark looming shadow of loneliness.


People who are lonely are up to 32% more likely to die early than their more connected peers, research shows.


Do you know loneliness ranks high up there with dangerous health outcomes of smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity in terms of its long-term effects on your health?


Under normal circumstances, loneliness would be something we have some degree of control over, but the COVID-19 pandemic is making us feel as if we have little control over our lives and our feelings of isolation.


Previous research into this area has shown that strong social ties may protect people from emotional distress, cognitive decline, and physical disability, while loneliness and social isolation can cause harm to physical and psychological wellbeing. Both loneliness and social isolation have been strongly associated with poorer quality of life and other measures of well-being.


In a survey of 20,000 Americans, nearly half reported always or sometimes feeling lonely or left out. Young adults ages 18 to 22 are the loneliest generation of all, the survey found. It could be as simple as having people around who encourage you to make healthy choices, such as keeping doctor's appointments, eating right, and taking medications. Or, chronic loneliness could be a recipe for chronic stress, which in turn wreaks havoc on your health.


The late Dr. John Cacioppo, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, studied the effects of loneliness for two decades before his passing in 2018. He equated loneliness with a type of hunger, noting that establishing social connections is essential for human survival. He also believed that chronic loneliness can increase the incidence of early death.


Seek out if you are lonely.
Try to reduce someone's loneliness.

This post is a part of Blogchatter #CauseAChatter Campaign.

Cycle of Worry during the Pandemic #MentalHealth

We humans are creatures of habit, it’s what makes us feel secure. When everything that was normal becomes turned on its ear, we invariably become unsettled… anxious.


Whatever was not going right in your life emotionally before the pandemic is probably being magnified and showcased for you right now.


This pandemic is shining a spotlight on our inner selves. Your eyes can now see, in high-def living color, what’s been missing, what’s been disjointed, what’s been problematic in your life, maybe even for a long time.


Worrying is insecurity’s major delivery system. Insecurity and worry are joined at the hip. When we feel out of control and vulnerable, we want to do something to regain a sense of control. This tendency to want to be in control is baked into our DNA — humans hate, absolutely loathe, being out of control. Now, finding ourselves confronted with this pandemic, our imaginations have become a blank screen on which to project our deepest worries and fears.

3 Ways the Pandemic Shines a Light on Your Issues 

• Being locked away with your closest people highlights whatever problems exist in your relationships with those people. For example, have you been angry with your spouse for a long time? You’re likely to notice it more now.
• Being prevented from engaging in your external life makes you either miss it or be happy to be away from it. Which is it for you? What does this say about how you have been living your life?
• Having far fewer external distractions leaves you sitting with your inner self. Your body may have been trying to send you messages for some time (maybe even years) and you have been too busy, too distracted, too externally focused, or too tired to notice. Now you can pay attention. What are they? What do they mean?

Take your life back from insecurity and worry

• Beginning today, differentiate between facts and emotional fictions if it takes place anytime but at the moment, it’s a fiction.
• Recognize that you are not your insecurity. Insecurity is a long-standing habit.
• An active mind can insist on more healthy thinking.
• Try distractions like watching TV (not the news) or reading a great book, exercise, getting outside, immersing yourself in a hobby. Or simply employ a mantra telling yourself, “Stop it! Drop it!”

This post is part of Blogchatter #CauseAChatter