Social isolation poses more health risks than obesity or smoking 15 cigarettes a day, according to research published by Brigham Young University. The (26)_____ is that loneliness is a huge, if silent, risk factor.
Loneliness affects physical health in two ways. First, it produces stress hormones that can lead to many health problems. Second, people who live alone are less likely to go to the doctor (27)_____, to exercise or to eat a healthy diet.
Public health experts in many countries are (28)_____ how to address widespread loneliness in our society. Last year Britain even appointed a minister for loneliness. “Loneliness (29)_____ almost every one of us at some point,” its minister for loneliness Baroness Barran said. “It can lead to very serious health (30)_____ for individuals who become isolated and disconnected.”
Barran started a “Let’s Talk Loneliness” campaign that (31)_____ difficult conversations across Britain. She is now supporting “ (32)_____ benches,” which are public seating areas where people are encouraged to go and chat with one another. The minister is also (33)_____ to stop public transportation from being cut in ways that leave people isolated.
More than one-fifth of adults in both the United States and Britain said in a 2018 (34)_____ that they often or always feel lonely. More than half of American adults are unmarried, and researchers have found that even among those who are married, 30% of relationships are (35)_____ strained. A quarter of Americans now live alone, and as the song says, one is the loneliest number.
