The loneliness cure: How to break the cycle and build connections

Here & Now Anytime

WBUR

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4.6 • 911 Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

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Summary

A recent Gallup Poll showed that 1 in 5 American adults reports feeling lonely every single day. It's something that U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called a "national epidemic of loneliness and isolation." We hear from Murthy about the broader impact of loneliness. Then, experts say that loneliness and social isolation carry the same health risks as smoking. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a psychology and neuroscience professor, joins us to discuss how to break the cycle of loneliness and build more social connections in our lives. And, the longest scientific study of happiness has found that strong relationships stand out as the key. Dr. Robert Waldinger talks about what the study shows about the importance of relationships, how they benefit overall health, and how we can improve our own personal connections at any stage of life.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Here and Now Anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science.
0:13.8	Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:16.0	If you have the ability to reach out to somebody else, to just listen to somebody and understand what
0:21.7	they're going through, then you have the power to be a healer. You can't fight loneliness
0:26.8	alone. We've got tips for how to help yourself by helping others. This is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR.
0:44.7	I'm Chris Bentley.
0:50.3	What does it mean to be alone?
0:53.6	It's hard to define loneliness. We're all more connected than ever these days, of course, maybe even too connected through social media and phones. And yet 20% of Americans report feeling lonely, almost daily, according to a recent Gallup poll. Almost all of us are spending more time alone than ever.
1:13.4	It's changing our relationships, our politics, and our health.
1:17.6	And it's strange to feel alone when we're actually interacting with people,
1:21.6	or at least aware of so many people all the time, all over the world these days.
1:25.8	You could call it aloneness, as the Atlantic's Derek Thompson does,
1:30.0	to distinguish it from just plain isolation. But however you describe it, chances are you know what
1:35.1	I'm talking about. And you've probably felt it. I certainly have. Well, today on the show,
1:40.7	three conversations on loneliness and what to do about it. And we've got more episodes
1:45.4	like this to come, by the way. So click that follow button and bell notification icon so you
1:50.1	don't miss future episodes of here and now any time. Today, how we got here, as well as some
1:56.5	tips for coping with loneliness. One of the best ways to help yourself is to help others.
2:02.0	And don't take our word for it, the world's longest scientific study of happiness shows
2:07.9	that our connections with others keep us healthier, longer, both mentally and physically.
2:13.2	When we pay more attention to relationships, it has huge benefits for our lives.
	...

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