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THE EPIDEMIC OF LONELINESS BY R A B B I M E YE R L A N I A D O
“A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passersby only see a wisp of smoke.” Vincent Van Gogh penned these poignant words in a letter to his brother, Theo, in June 1880 expressing his profound loneliness.
reports that loneliness leads to a 29% increased risk of heart disease and a 32% increased risk of stroke, while other studies show that loneliness could decrease one’s health as much as obesity, physical inactivity, air pollution, and smoking 15 cigarettes per day. 4 Some countries have elevated the loneliness epidemic to the highest levels of priority, including the United Kingdom which established a Commission on Loneliness, and set in place a Minister of Loneliness to develop and implement a national strategy to combat loneliness. In 2018, they published a report on grappling with loneliness, laying out a plan to address the problem of loneliness and help in implementing solutions. They note that “it is possible to be isolated without feeling lonely and conversely to feel lonely while surrounded by people.” 5 I have found this to be true in my experiences with congregants, as one shared before the pandemic: “I’m in a city full of people but I feel completely alone.” Pre-COVID, this person was working with colleagues and social with family and friends, yet they felt isolated. This may be counter to our view of loneliness, which we generally perceive as being alone, without human interaction. Yet, many people, at least before the era of Zoom and remote everything, sit across from and interact with us while feeling completely disconnected.
While we may not admit our own loneliness, many of us know at least one person who can relate to this sentiment. Even before COVID-19 and its consequent social isolation, loneliness was reported as being experienced by three in five Americans.1 Social isolation and loneliness were pronounced a behavioral epidemic due to their widespread presence across Europe, America, and China. 2 Loneliness is not only harmful emotionally and psychologically – it also takes a serious toll on our physical health, significantly increasing mortality rates. Dr. Vivek Murthy, our 19th Surgeon General, has made it his mission to combat what he calls the ‘loneliness epidemic.’ He wrote in a Harvard Business Review article that the pathology he witnessed most often when caring for patients was loneliness, not heart disease or diabetes.3 The CDC
A recent CIGNA study found that loneliness is more prevalent among younger than older generations: “Nearly eight in 10 Gen Zers (79%) and seven in 10 millennials (71%) are lonely, vs. half of boomers (50%).” 6 Before COVID-19, these young adults attended high school and college classes regularly, surrounded by others their age,
R abbi M eyer L aniado / / K E H I L AT H J E S H U R U N B U L L E T I N R abbi M eyer L aniado
