7 Tips that Show How Crucial Social Connection Is to Well-being

Could public health guidelines help stop loneliness? Kiffer George Card shares both research and his perspective on how we can address the pandemic of loneliness. He advocates coming together in a whole-of-society response, which means addressing the very problem he is seeking to solve.

- By Kiffer George Card

United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently called loneliness an epidemic, and issued a public health advisory on the healing effects of social connection and community.

The report warned of the considerable adverse effects of loneliness and social isolation comparing it to other leading risk factors for premature death such as smoking, obesity, elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Loneliness and social isolation can be harmful

In my work as a social and behavioral epidemiologist, I have studied how social and community connectedness shapes health outcomes, ranging from HIV to substance use.

For example, my colleagues and I have previously shown that social isolation is associated with a 48 percent increase in odds for premature death, and that lonely people have 71 percent higher odds of reporting fair or poor health.

Other researchers have also documented the havoc that loneliness wreaks on individuals, showing that lonely and isolated people have poorer immune function, experience higher levels of inflammation, and are at greater risk for heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

While everybody's vulnerability to loneliness and social isolation differs, we all need social connection. Perhaps just as importantly, Harvard research from the longest-running cohort study ever conducted suggests that warm social relationships are the most important predictor of happiness across the life course. In other words, people who are disconnected lead sicker, sadder, and shorter lives.

Public health guidelines