When I began my tenure as surgeon general I did not think that I would be talking about loneliness and emotional well-being. Look even deeper, and you’ll find loneliness is associated with a greater risk of heart disease, depression, anxiety and dementia. In the office of the surgeon general, we had a five-minute practice during our weekly staff meetings. It’s powerful to hear a former surgeon general talk about this as an epidemic. I think of loneliness as an epidemic because it affects a great number of people in our country but also because one person’s loneliness can have an impact on another person.

Source: Washington Post October 04, 2017 11:22 UTC