Being lonely does not just have an immediate effect, in the long run, it shortens your lifespan—and as such, we have to build more healthy relationships.
According to a new research, loneliness shortens lifespan as much as being obese.
“Whether a person feels alone is as much of a predictor of whether they will die prematurely as their weight, researchers found. And they predict a loneliness ‘epidemic’ in the future as more people live alone – and warn people need to start taking social relationships more seriously.
They explained loneliness and social isolation can take different forms. For example, someone may be surrounded by people but still feel alone.Other people might isolate themselves because they prefer to be alone. The effect on lifespan, however, is the same for those two scenarios, researchers found,” MailOnline reports.
The lead author of the study-Julianne Holt-Lunstad, of Brigham Young University, Utah, said; ‘the effect is comparable to obesity, something that public health takes very seriously’ and that ‘we need to start taking our social relationships more seriously.’