The U.S. Surgeon General is warning that the country’s current isolation and loneliness epidemic is as fatal as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.
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Surgeon General Warns We’re In An ‘Isolation And Loneliness Epidemic’ That’s As Fatal As Smoking 15 Cigarettes A Day
Earlier this week an advisory report, entitled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,’ was released and outlined the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory “on the healing effects of social connection and community.”
In the 80-page plus report, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy said that when he took office nearly a decade ago, he never thought he would see the issues of loneliness and isolation ever be considered and deemed a “public health concern.”
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However, in recent years, Dr. Murthy has come to the realization that this could be, especially after seeing the data and after personally speaking with several people across the nation who have been feeling socially disconnected — or “lacking social connection.” In his report, Dr. Murthy noted that one in two adults living in the U.S. have reported that they have experienced loneliness prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Sadly, the pandemic only worsened these issues. Per Dr. Murthy, the pandemic, which he referred to as a “collective experience,” hit some groups of Americans in the U.S. a lot harder than others. For instance, he focused in on the health care workers on the frontline.
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He said their firsthand experience with the pandemic hit a lot harder than those Americans who were given the opportunity to work from home.
According to Dr. Murthy, he and his team said that social disconnection could be potentially as deadly as “smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.” He fully said, “Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health.
It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day,4 and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.”
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Exactly a month ago, we shared the story of a woman on TikTok who shared that she herself was dealing with “touch starvation.”
The woman’s name is Mayte Lisbeth and she’s a 33-year-old New York City woman who went viral after revealing, “I’m really struggling. I don’t get hugs.” In her caption, she wrote, “It’s been five years of touch starvation. I’ll probably have some more years of it. I’m not handling this well.”
After offering a disclaimer to people who may not understand her, Mayte said, “I feel like I’m dying from touch starvation, y’all. I don’t get hugs. I don’t know. I feel like if I were to get the kind of hug that I f**king really want, I would crumble into pieces.”
While trying to fight back tears, Mayte went on, “How do you deal with that? I really need to be touched and I know someone’s gonna say, ‘Go to the salon and get your hair done, or get a massage or get your nails done, so someone can hold your hand.’”
Mayte explained, “But none of those people love me. None of those services love me, right? But, I am really struggling. I’m really struggling with like … I don’t get hugs. That sh*t is… It could be like maybe a ‘Hello,’ you know or whatever, maybe. But it’s not enough. I don’t know how you … How am I going to go the rest of my life like this? I think that’s really hard. I’m just really struggling.”
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