Loneliness: An Overview

Holisticly’s Loneliness Awareness Campaign 2023

Loneliness: An Overview

Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

Table of

Contents About Us .............................................................................................................

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What Is Loneliness? ..................................................................................... 4 What Loneliness Means for Wellness ............................................. 6 Generational Influences on Loneliness ......................................... 9 Addressing Loneliness ................................................................................ 11 References ........................................................................................................ 13

Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

About Us Holisticly is a progressive technology and operations company that’s revolutionizing the concept of digital health and wellness. Combining AI, telemedicine, and 40+ years of experience, we’re committed to improving health literacy worldwide, promoting preventive care, and providing integrative and digitized health solutions to a global community.

Our Holisticly® app combines state-of-the-art technology and telehealth, enabling us to provide clients with affordable and personalized health solutions that match their needs, desires, and lifestyles.

At Holisticly, we look at the person as whole; we cater to your body, mind, soul, and surroundings. We strive to bring our vision to life through the application of our unique combination of digital health services and our holistic approach toward wellness: We aspire that our global community of users become inspired to make better-informed decisions about their wellbeing, ultimately leading healthier, happier, and more fulfilling lives.

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Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

What Is Loneliness?

Loneliness is not an uncommon feeling or state of mind.

Regardless of our age or social situations, it’s something that many of us are familiar with – but is often difficult to understand.

When it comes to holistic wellness, a good social life and supportive network can make all the difference in various regions of our health. So, to do our part for 2023’s Loneliness Awareness Week, we’ve put together four pamphlets in the spirit of education and promoting healthy practices. We’ll talk about defining loneliness, the factors that can influence it, and how the scientific and holistic health community is addressing it.

Alone vs Lonely When discussing loneliness, it’s important to note the distinction between being alone and feeling lonely. This is of course open to interpretation, but the difference is essentially one of choice. Many people are more than happy to be alone when they want to recharge their social batteries or enjoy a hobby.

Loneliness is when someone feels unwillingly alienated; they’re unable to feel adequate love and support from their social circle.

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Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

This feeling can be traced back to numerous circumstances, such as living with a mental health condition, bereavement, injury, or any number of factors which could cause their social needs to not be met. Loneliness can also be influenced by our personalities. Whether we’d call ourselves introverts, ambiverts, or extroverts, the way we are around other people, and the way we live our lives can directly correlate with our chances of experiencing loneliness.

Social Isolation Social isolation is closely tied to loneliness and is often linked to wellness outcomes. However, it’s possible to be socially isolated without feeling lonely.

Social isolation refers to “solitude that is unwanted or unhealthy”. While someone may choose to socially isolate themselves, the negative health effects can still be present. Social isolation can occur due to bereavements, living with physical impairments, living in a remote location, or even unemployment, but it’s valuable to remember the distinction.

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Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

What Loneliness Means for Wellness Our social lives and how fulfilling our social interactions are can greatly impact the full spectrum of our holistic wellness. This region of health is particularly personal and is largely dependent on what each of us wants and needs from our social lives. Generally, when we feel we’re getting the right amount of social interaction, we’re likely to experience positive health outcomes across the holistic sphere. When we’re not, loneliness can be just one among many other negative health effects.

Understanding loneliness is therefore essential in helping us discover the perfect balance we need in our lives, especially when it’s affecting most areas of our holistic wellness.

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Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

Social Health Social health refers to our social lives: our friend groups and our support systems.

Having people to talk to and share our time with is an important part of wellness.

It can improve our quality of life, it can help to prevent a variety of ailments, and it can influence our mental wellbeing!

Mental Health In terms of mental health, loneliness has been scientifically proven to increase the probability of mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. On the other hand, people who feel they’re getting the right amount of social interaction are more resilient to stress. They’re also less likely to develop mental health disorders, and if they develop a condition, they tend to have more successful recovery processes.

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Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

Physical Health

The connection between loneliness and physical wellbeing may perhaps not seem quite as obvious as the mental and social health outcomes, but it’s there in many forms. For instance, loneliness can speed up the aging process, and increase blood pressure, among other physical symptoms. However, it’s also been shown that curbing loneliness and social isolation can reduce the risk of premature death, dementia, heart failure, and the statistical risk of hospitalization.

Economic, Spiritual, and Environmental Health It’s also worth noting here the influence our economic wellness can have on our ability to afford to socialize! Our spiritual and environmental situations can also have an impact on our lifestyles and on our social interactions.

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Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

Generational Influences on Loneliness When it comes to loneliness and its varied wellness implications, one of the biggest factors is the age group we belong to. These socio-demographic differences can affect our outlook, our psychology, and many of the situations in our lives that make loneliness more or less common.

Let’s talk about how age affects loneliness.

Children & Adolescents: Generation Z has often been called the loneliest generation, with around 73% of 18-22 year olds (not to mention 11% of kids aged 10-15) reporting feeling lonely almost constantly. Scientists believe that this could be a result of the overstimulation caused by growing up while exposed to digital media, which tends to focus on content and information rather than meaningful connections.

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Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

Young Adults: Young adults are another group that seems to have increased levels of loneliness, with polls finding that around 30% of millennials self-reported having no best friends, and 22% reported no friends at all. It’s believed that this could be the result of factors such as social engagement and social media.

Gen Xers & Boomers: While young adults, teens, and the elderly are heavily researched, the middle-aged tend to get overlooked. This could mean they are the least lonely, or more likely that they are less communicative of their loneliness.

Studies show that this generation is the most stressed, with financial insecurity on the rise. This age group is also the most likely to have dependants, so one potential reason why they may not report feeling lonely could be because they want to appear stronger for their families.

Older Adults: Loneliness has perhaps the most prevalent health implications for this age group. People in older generations often feel lonely, and according to US polls, 27% of adults aged 60 and over live alone. Feeling isolated or lonely can be due to factors like bereavement, infirmity, and feeling out of touch with the modern world, which can lead to a serious decline in mental and physical wellbeing.

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Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

Addressing Loneliness However loneliness may affect us, it’s important to know what solutions are available! It’s not always as simple as getting out there and making some new friends, but there are small things that everyone can do to take a few steps in the right direction!

One thing we can do to address loneliness in our communities is reach out. Reaching out may perhaps be the most difficult step to take, but it can also be one of the most rewarding ways to cope with, and potentially overcome, loneliness. Whether we feel it ourselves or notice it in others, getting in touch with our loved ones can make all the difference in the world!

Another effective way to reduce loneliness is by understanding its root causes, which can be much easier to wrap our heads around when we boost our health literacy!

This way we can learn about the real impacts that loneliness can have on our wellbeing, and about what we can do to help ourselves, or others.

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Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

We can also develop strategies to improve working conditions and reduce loneliness and isolation through creating positive workplace cultures, safe spaces, training, social events, and employee outreach programs.

Having this knowledge can encourage us to notice people who may need our help, or when we need help ourselves. With the knowledge we now have, we can learn to build connections in meaningful ways

If we understand the factors that can influence loneliness, such as social media, technology, the social situations of our world (like our lives post-lockdown), and the related mental health implications, such as anxiety, we can help to curb loneliness both in ourselves and in those around us! This is why we’ve created three more pamphlets as a part of this campaign.

Make sure to check them out!

Remember, you're never alone.

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Social Health Campaign Loneliness: An Overview

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