Loneliness is the new smoking.

It's almost as deadly and nowadays even more common.

It's a pandemic sweeping across the world, yes on top of the other one, and it's making

us not only more depressed and more isolated, but more likely to suffer from physical illnesses.

Welcome back to Savi Psychologist, I'm your host Dr. Jade Wu.

Every week I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic

ear, and zero judgment.

Today, we'll walk through the science and art of reconnecting with others, so we don't

have to be in our lonely little bubbles anymore.

If you've ever washed madmen, you might have marveled at how normal chain smoking was

back in the 1950s.

Nowadays, smoking rates have thankfully gone down drastically, but there's been a growing

new epidemic that is arguably just as bad for our health, and that's loneliness.

In fact, some health researchers say that loneliness is as damaging to health as smoking

15 cigarettes per day, contributing to problems like cardiovascular disease, immune system

dysfunction, and it has reached epidemic proportions, with over half of adults reporting

that nobody knows them well and almost half feeling like they're isolated or don't

have meaningful relationships.

Now if you're surprised to hear that the numbers are so high, that's probably because nobody

admits to being lonely.

There's a stigma to admitting that you're starved for company, so we often portray our

lives as going great on social media, even when we feel disconnected.

...