Posted on 08/06/2017 12:13:07 PM PDT by BenLurkin
“Being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need — crucial to both well-being and survival. Extreme examples show infants in custodial care who lack human contact fail to thrive and often die, and indeed, social isolation or solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment,” said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Brigham Young University.
...
Approximately 42.6 million adults over age 45 in the United States are estimated to be suffering from chronic loneliness, according to AARP’s Loneliness Study.
In addition, the most recent U.S. census data shows more than a quarter of the population lives alone, more than half of the population is unmarried and, since the previous census, marriage rates and the number of children per household have declined.
...
The first involved 148 studies, representing more than 300,000 participants, and found that greater social connection is associated with a 50 percent reduced risk of early death.
The second study, involving 70 studies representing more than 3.4 million individuals primarily from North America but also from Europe, Asia, and Australia, examined the role that social isolation, loneliness, or living alone might have on mortality. Researchers found that all three had a significant and equal effect on the risk of premature death, one that was equal to or exceeded the effect of other well-accepted risk factors, such as obesity.
(Excerpt) Read more at psychcentral.com ...
Leave it to academia to conclude that government invasion of privacy is the answer to anything that be cast as a "health" issue.
It’s infectious? I had no idea.
There are reasons I live alone and wouldn’t have it any other way. Being alone need not mean being lonely.
Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away... and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast.... be happy about your growth, in which of course you can’t take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don’t torment them with your doubts and don’t frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn’t be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn’t necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust.... and don’t expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Hmmm...People 45 and over consititute 13.3% of the US population. Assuming there are 330 million US residents, there are 43.89 million people who fall into that age bracket. Since this study says 42.6 million suffer "chronic loneliness", that means 97.1% of the population is suffering from "chronic loniness". Alternatively, it could mean the AARP funded a body of research that total bullcrap.
I watch those Alaska shows and those folks seem to be quite happy.
Maybe this is a projection from the study as to how well the authors would be if they were alone.
BTW, we are never alone.
Any study from the AARP is not what it seems to be.
The AARP has a very strong hidden agenda.
Divorce is a big contributor to being lonely over the age of 45. Not having children is probably also a very significant contributor.
That said, an older friend lost his wife a few years ago from a rapidly progressing neuro-degenerative disease that took her within a year of onset. He was devastated, but has reached out to his local church and he volunteers to help others - including those who are alone. He’s very active, doing something of great value, and I think he would be a lot more lonely if he wasn’t doing all of these things. I admire him very much.
Join the homeless revolution. Nobody looks lonely under the 101 freeway or in the tent cities in the bushes alongside.
Does it apply to hermits?
The last week I’ve had five of my children and four grandchildren in the house.
God is good.
“The AARP has a very strong hidden agenda.”
Hidden? Not very well.
Socialism already has a plan for single payer affection. Likable people will be ordered to like un-likable people in proportion to their excessive likability, no that no likable person will be excessively liked and no unlikeable person will have to suffer through excessive un-liking - as long as they vote right. :)
Going to a “dating” website is not a cure.
Back when family and church meant something, and you knew your neighbors, none of this was a problem.
It has got to be a higher percent than that. I would say closer to between 30 and 35.
I tend to keep to myself.
The spouse is bigger on socializing.
After a week of the clueless, ignorant, incompetent, spoiled, and whiny types at the office, I have had my fill of people.
I’m alone, and like it; however, I’d like to have a dog again. :)
There’s a huge differences between loneliness and solitude.
I come home in the evening after dealing with people since 8 a.m., I put on music or a baseball game. I go to bed at 10. I’m up at 5 for a 20 mile ride.
I get enough drama during the day. I’m not coming home to hear what was on Oprah or the View.
My politicians make me compete not only with the people outside our borders (to earn a living in the first place), but also the ones inside our borders (to keep what I have earned). I despise them for their nutlessness.
I am not coming home to listen to someone who consumes Lena Dunham’s swill.
Baseball game, a beer, sleep. I’m good. I’ll date on the weekends. No tatoos.
Selling condos in retirement places.
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