Well, I have struggled with loneliness and many points during my life.

Our first struggle with loneliness is a child.

And I was still very clearly remember that pit in my stomach that would grow the closer

my mom's car got to school when she dropped me off in the morning.

And I was scared to go to school.

I was scared of being alone.

And as a shy, introverted kid, even though I wanted to interact with other kids, it was

hard to do so and it took a long time to build friendships.

This is Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general of the United States.

And he's talking to us about loneliness.

Because he believes it's a serious public health threat, one that we don't talk about enough.

When he was that shy little kid, Dr. Murthy says that he didn't talk about how he was

feeling.

I never told my parents about it.

In all those years, even though I knew that they loved me unconditionally because I felt

ashamed as so many people do about their struggles with loneliness.

Loneliness can have profound effects on our mental health, but also on our physical health.

In a new advisory, Dr. Murthy warned that it's as dangerous as smoking and even more dangerous

than obesity.

Loneliness can lead to depression and anxiety or even heart disease, stroke, dementia.

And this is because loneliness creates a stress response in our bodies.

It has to do with the fact that thousands of years ago, when we were hunters and gatherers,

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