How to Connect: Being UN-Lonely

This week on NPR’s All Things Considered, I heard Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy talk about the newly released study, "Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation," which finds that “29% increased risk of heart disease; a 32% increased risk of stroke; and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia for older adults.”

Dr. Murthy says that our goal is “to build a society that is deeply connected….We know that in-person interaction is what we’ve evolved for over thousands of years. We’ve learned to interpret not just the content of what someone’s saying but also the sound of their voice and their body language and when we lose a lot of that in text-based interactions, then that impacts the strength of the connections that we can form.”

Dr. Murthy reminds us that we have a cure! It is FREE! And has no downside, no side-effects, is a powerful medicine, and profoundly mitigates the risks associated with loneliness. “It turns out that’s what social connection is. It’s medicine that’s hiding in plain sight.”
So, how to we make this happen? Jeremy Nobel, MD, PhD, founded Project Unlonely to address this societal illness. His recommendations for how to connect? The creative arts and nature. And Dr. Murthy wrote a book with simple, small actions such as picking up the phone when people call.

If you asked my daughter and her friends how they connect in person, they would undoubtedly say, Spikeball.

This week, bring more connection with others into our lives by getting outside, walking downtown, going to the farmer’s market, making a plan to meet in-person, nurture our deepest needs to create a healthier self.