Hey there!

Hope you are all making the most of your summer holidays!

Michael is traveling with his girlfriend and all that Jazz, so he won’t be able to write an article this week. So here is a picture of shirtless Michael instead:

Juan in the meanwhile has no romantic holiday going on so he will be writing about loneliness haha. He isn’t lonely don’t worry. In fact, he feels like he is spending way too much time with people at the moment. So popular.

HEALTH

How social isolation and loneliness shorten your life

There is an 80-year-old study on loneliness by Harvard and the findings are worrying.

Loneliness and social isolation are on the rise in the Western world. But while both are linked together, they are separate problems.

Being socially isolated causes a greater risk to your physical health, while loneliness has a much larger impact on your mental health.

What is the difference between loneliness and social isolation?

Social isolation is an objective measure. Are you spending time with people or communities? While loneliness is more subjective. Do you have deep meaningful relationships with people? Do you feel understood?

What did the study find?

Those who were more lonely were 40% more likely to die over the next four years, while those who were socially isolated were about 75% more likely to die.

It is important to understand the context of the study. It was done on older adults. For them, living alone and isolated is especially dangerous to their health.

Also, studies have found that loneliness is as dangerous as smoking half a packet of cigarettes per day. Later in life, loneliness increases the risk of dementia by 26%.

What is the path to well-being?

Invest in our relationships with other people. It’s not just the closest relationships that make us feel connected, it’s all kinds of relationships. From the person that delivers your mail, to the cashier at your supermarket. Making all these causal encounters a little more personal does a lot to make ourselves and other people feel like we belong.

Many lonely people feel like others don’t want to be with them. And they can reflect a feeling that they don’t want to be approached. But you should try to switch it around and give off signals that say “I would like to connect”.

Recommendation for people who feel lonely

Find a setting/activity around other people where you are comfortable and see what develops.

SOURCE: Harvard University

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— Juan

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