Loneliness affects health more than obesity

Obesity can have a bad impact on health,but American researchers have analyzed many studies and found that the negative effects of loneliness on health may be more serious than obesity. An article published in the British Daily Telegraph on August 6th said that American researchers analyzed 216 studies, involving 4,000,000 people. The study focused on the impact of separation from society and loneliness on health. The results showed a 50% increase in the likelihood of premature death compared with those with good social status. By contrast, the death rate of 70 years old that obesity results in is 30% .

Dr. Juliana Holt Lansda, Professor of psychology and lead author of the study at Brigham Young University in Utah says something about retirement: people should not only make preparation for the economic aspects, but also prepare for good social sector, because for many people, they are getting companion from work.

Social interaction with others is a basic need of human beings, and meaningful social relations are essential to human’s happiness. Juliana said: "for an extreme example, if the baby lacks interpersonal communication, they can not grow up healthily, and even die easily.".Separation from society or solitary confinement is a means of punishment."

In addition, we usually associate loneliness with old people. However, one study found that people aged 18 to 34 may be more likely to feel lonely than older people who are over 55 years old. The researchers said attention should be paid to the training of children's social skills on campus and that doctors should be encouraged to incorporate social conditions into medical coverage. Municipal services should ensure that there is enough social space for people to get together and communicate with each other conveniently.

肥胖对健康会有不好的影响，但美国学者分析了众多研究后发现，孤独对健康的负面影响可能比肥胖更严重。英国《每日电讯报》8月6日的一篇文章说，美国学者分析了216项研究，这些研究总共涉及400万人，研究的主题是脱离社会以及孤独感对健康的影响。结果表明，和那些社交状况良好的人相比，孤独者早亡的可能性增加了50%。相比之下，因肥胖导致人们在70岁之前死亡的概率为30%。

本次研究的主要作者、犹他州杨伯翰大学的心理学教授朱莉安娜·霍尔特·朗斯达博士表示，关于退休，人们不仅要做好经济方面的准备，还有做好社交层面的准备，因为对于很多人来说，他们都是从工作中获取陪伴的。

和他人的社会交往是人类的一种基本需求，有意义的社会关系对于人类的幸福至关重要。朱莉安娜说：“举个极端的例子，婴儿如果缺少人际交流，他们就没办法健康成长，甚至容易因此死亡。脱离社会或是单独监禁都是惩罚的手段。”

此外，我们通常把孤独和老年人联系在一起，但是有一项研究发现，18岁至34岁的人可能比55岁以上的老年人更容易感到孤独。研究人员表示，应该重视校园内对儿童社交能力的训练，同时应鼓励医生将社交情况纳入医疗检查范围。市政服务机构应当确保有足够的社交空间，方便人们聚集在一起彼此沟通。