Good Lifestyle

A 2025 survey Of the American Psychiatric Association noted that 33% of adults felt loneliness at least once a week during the previous calendar, which represents an increase of 3% compared to the previous year. Loneliness can also allow us to isolate behavior and subsequently wreak havoc on your mental and physical health. This led researchers to classify loneliness as a "hidden epidemic" in a new report.

In relation: Loneliness can increase your risk of hearing loss by 24%, warn researchers .

Poor mental and physical health can be attributed to loneliness, by new research.

A new study published in the journal Plos a identified loneliness as a "strong and independent predictor of depression and bad results for health". Loneliness has the ability to affect "all aspects of health", both mentally and physical, noted the authors. They said their results prove that loneliness is a "hidden epidemic" that needs "tackle".

To measure the impact of loneliness, the researchers first asked for 47,318 Americans aged 18 to 64, "how often do you feel alone?" The multiple choice question included five possible answers:

• Never
• Rarely
• Sometimes
• Generally
• Always

Then, they analyzed three primary results for health: the presence / absence of a diagnosis of clinical depression, mental health and physical health, which was evaluated via another questionnaire in which the participants said how many days of mental and / or physical health "not good" in the last 30 days.

This type of evaluation "allows a complete understanding of the burden of health associated with loneliness", reads the report. Overall, more than 80% of participants told a certain degree of loneliness.

Their results also found:

• Participants who replied "still" reported a "significantly higher predicted probability" of depression .
• The "still" group experienced an average of 10.9 others poor days of mental health per month.
• They also had an average of five more poor physical health days per month.
• "Coherent" women have reported a greater probability of depression and bad days of mental health than men.

“Our study stresses that loneliness is not only an emotional state - it has measurable consequences for mental and physical health. The fight against loneliness can be a critical public health priority to reduce depression and improve global well-being, "concluded the authors.

In relation: Doctors say that these 8 foods could worsen your anxiety and depression .

How to fight against loneliness:

The quick response here is to find new ways to socialize, whether it is to join a Mahjong group or a reading club. But of course, putting you there is easier to say than to do. It takes tenacity and vulnerability. One way to find people sharing the same ideas is to volunteer.

"Offer your skills or your interests to a local organization with which you resonate", " Ray Christner , PsyD, NCSP, ABPP, specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy at His practice in Hanover, Pennsylvania, previously suggested to Best life .

Colleen Marshall , MA, LMFT, vice-president of clinical care on the therapist's research site Two chairs , also recommended to make more conscious efforts to strengthen existing relationships, whether with expensive beings or friends.

"It could be with a friend, a family member, a little child or really any important person for you. Having a regular visit to connection can help deepen a relationship you already have and also remember when you could feel alone that you have a point of contact with someone you care to come soon," she said.

"If the person you want to connect cannot do it every week, think of several people who could be in your schedule so that you have at least one contact point per week for a significant recording," added Marshall.