Isolation can be as damaging as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and is a greater risk than being sedentary or obese according to the surgeon general.

• The pandemic lockdown didn’t make things better, it promoted more loneliness.
• BUT, there are ways to ease the loneliness – one is to rely less on the bubble we find ourselves in when on digital devices – engage more with those around us.
• And the number of people we know doesn’t necessarily mean an end to loneliness – we can have many friends and be lonely.
• It’s who you spend time with, how you engage them in the present and share a part of you.

“If you feel lonely, don’t be just with other lonely people … That’s not going to be productive.” – Ruth Westheimer, New York State Honorary Ambassador to Loneliness.