Surgeon General's Advisory Calls Loneliness A Public Health Crisis
(Washington, DC) -- The U.S. Surgeon General is calling loneliness a public health crisis. Dr. Vivek Murthy has released an advisory calling attention to isolation and the lack of connection he's seeing in America. He says that even before the COVID-19 pandemic about half of all adults said they were experiencing loneliness every day. Dr. Murthy says loneliness can raise the risk of premature death by 26-percent and social isolation by 29-percent. Those conditions have also been linked to increased risk of stroke, heart disease, dementia, anxiety, depression and self-harm.