When loneliness becomes a lifestyle, it can have a profound effect on health and can lead to increased levels of stress hormones as well as a heightened risk for heart attack and stroke, dementia, and death.
Health care professionals see loneliness as not only an emerging public health hazard, but an epidemic. Despite this, the US does not have policies to address this burgeoning epidemic at a national level.
Social relationships are key to healthy aging and maintaining good health. Social connections benefit health by providing the psychological resources important for coping with difficult situations.
What Are Other Developed Countries Doing to Combat the Loneliness Epidemic?
In 2001, the UK adopted the National Service Framework for Older People that offered cultural and institutional programs funded by tax revenue to meet the needs of older adults. The elderly reported satisfaction with the social care and support services they received and appreciated feeling like they were equal partners in the process of their care.
The framework encouraged aging in place—or providing adequate resources to the elderly so that they could continue residing in their homes. Some of the resources included home care services like providing a visiting nurse or a home helper and day care facilities.
Japan's aging demographic also presents unique challenges. A quarter of the Japanese population is 65 or older and the population is declining due to plunging birth rates.5 In 2016, the aging population, combined with the decline in working-age adults, were identified by the prime minister as "the root of the obstacles in economic growth."
The US needs a shift in policy that makes scalable solutions a priority with consolidated efforts to define assessment criteria for social isolation and loneliness in medical practice at a national level.
There are similar programs here in the US, but widespread change cannot occur in isolated pockets through smaller programs at the county or state level. The US needs a shift in policy that makes scalable solutions a priority with consolidated efforts to define assessment criteria for social isolation and loneliness in medical practice at a national level.
The federal government should ensure that social isolation becomes a part of the lexicon of social determinants of health by including it as a social determinant in official documents. Additionally, a change in the mindset of primary care doctors, who would have an obligation to address loneliness as a social determinant of health, would help connect lonely older adults with resources in their communities. At the state level, legislation to ensure funding of programs that support successful integration of older adults in their communities is essential.
Ultimately, recognizing that aging in place is beneficial not only to the elderly and their families but also to society is key to maintaining the richness of our social fabric.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. "World Population Aging 2015." 2015.
Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness "Combating Loneliness one Conversation at a time - A call to action" 2017.
"Loneliness increases risk of seniors' premature death by 14%, physiological study finds." The Japan Times. November 24, 2015.
A master's student studying Epidemiology, Vidhi Verma is a licensed family medicine physician from Dubai. She is currently researching the factors that influence traditional waterpipe use among US born and non-US born Arab Americans in the Detroit metropolitan area. She is interested in the effects of race and ethnicity on mental health disparities, specifically timely access to medical care.