Feeling lonely
Feeling lonely is more harmful than obesity-Some health conditions that are classified as mental disorders may be more harmful to human health compared to physical health conditions, and this aspect may not be given the necessary importance by some workers in the medical community.
As an automatic result of the low medical interest in these cases, people who suffer from these conditions may not be aware of their health damage, and they may not try to make the necessary effort to get rid of them or reduce their health effects on them.
Therefore; We may notice that doctors do not leave an occasion to warn about obesity and its health damage, how to overcome it, means to reduce body weight, and other positive aspects of medical attention regarding obesity.
On the other hand, we do not notice a similar medical interest in talking with patients about how well they live in cases of loneliness and social isolation, and what are the health effects expected on them from that, especially in ensuring that they eat healthy food, take medications, and take care of daily physical exercise and ensure follow-up when Physician, conducting examinations requested by physicians, and other aspects of personal health concern.
The question is: Are the negative health effects of obesity greater than those that may be caused by some living in a state of loneliness and social isolation from family members, relatives, friends and co-workers? The Middle East Journal reported on the topic through a review of international studies.
What the American Psychological Association said, by allocating the 3328 plenary session within the activities of the Association’s 125th annual conference, which was held on August 5 in Washington, DC, which was the scientific session entitled: “Loneliness: An Increasing Threat to Health the public”.
The Association published on its website the news of this scientific session under the title “So Lonely to the point that I will die. Researchers say that social isolation and loneliness can pose a threat to health that outweighs the threat of obesity.” She added, “Loneliness and social isolation may pose a greater risk to public health than obesity, and its impact is increasing and will continue to grow, according to research presented at the 125th annual conference of the American Psychological Association.”
Feeling lonely is more harmful than obesity
Professor Julian Holt Lunstad, Professor of Psychology at Brigham Young, commented: “Communicating with others socially is widely considered a basic and critical human need in both the sense of well-being and survival.
A growing percentage of the US population now regularly faces loneliness and social isolation. ” She added, “It is estimated that about 42.6 million adults over the age of 45 years in the United States suffer from Chronic Loneliness, according to the results of the loneliness study.” The researcher published a recent study of her on loneliness in the June issue of the journal Personal Relationships.
“In addition, the latest US census data show that more than a quarter of the population lives alone, and more than half of the population is unmarried, and since the previous census, marriage rates and the number of children per family have decreased,” she said. These trends indicate that Americans are becoming less socially connected and experiencing more loneliness. ”
Within the scientific session,
Professor Holt Lunstad presented the results of two analytical studies, in one of which the researchers reviewed 148 medical studies on loneliness that included a total of 300,000 people, and in their results, the researchers noted a significant association between social communication and a 50% reduction in the risk of premature death.
They also reviewed the results of another study that included a review of the results of 70 previous studies that included a total of 3.4 million people to examine the effects of social isolation, loneliness, and home living alone, and the effects of these conditions on the risk of premature death.
In conclusion, according to what the researchers said, the effect of these three cases is greater than well-known health risk factors such as obesity in particular. That is why Professor Holt Lunstad said, “There is strong scientific evidence that loneliness and social isolation increase the risk of premature death more than other factors.
