Social Connectedness: An Important Component of Health and Wellbeing

When we go to a doctor, we are invariably asked whether we smoke or drink alcohol, but one of the things we are not routinely asked about is our social connectedness.

In recent years, social disconnection, defined as social isolation and loneliness, has been identified as a key determinant of health that is as harmful as smoking or drinking. Accumulating evidence spanning more than 30 years suggests that the effect of social disconnection is comparable in magnitude with that of smoking and high levels of alcohol consumption.

Social connectedness is a fundamental aspect of human nature. Researchers argue that from an evolutionary perspective, social connection is not only beneficial to the species that receive support, but also evolutionarily adaptive to those who provide it. Neurobiological data further suggest that when an individual experiences social rejection, they experience increased activation in their stress response system as well as brain regions activated by physical pain, such as the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex.

Social disconnection has been deemed an urgent public health problem. For example, according to the World Health Organization, almost a third of older adults have reported being lonely: 20 to 34 per cent of older adults in 25 European countries and 25 to 29 per cent in the United States of America. To counter this global epidemic, “ministers of loneliness” have been appointed in countries such as the United Kingdom and Japan. There are also concerns that social connections may continue to erode over time due to a broad spectrum of social changes, such as the rise in the value of individualism, shift in telecommunication methods, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers are calling for five actions to address this public health concern:

• Educate the public and medical community about the importance of social connectedness
• Increase health policy efforts to build a public health infrastructure to bolster social connectedness
• Create opportunities for research funding
• Develop and validate measures to assess and monitor social connectedness in health care settings

Rigorously evaluate clinical interventions to enhance social connectedness.

Article adapted from “Social Disconnection as a Global Behavioral Epidemic—A Call to Action About a Major Health Risk Factor” by Peter Jongho Na, MD MPH; Dilip V. Jeste, MD; Robert H. Pietrzak, PhD, MPH. JAMA Psychiatry, 2023;80(2):101-102.

• Topics:

• Living and Lifestyle
• Mental Health & Wellbeing