You need one because you are human.” – Jane Howard

Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. But when it's prolonged, then it can become a chronic state of stress, which leads to inflammation in our body, damages tissues in blood vessels and, ultimately, damages our physical, as well as our emotional, health.“ Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.

And it puts us in a physiologic stress state, which, when it's short, when it's acute, it can lead us to seek out connection. And when we were separated from each other, it places our survival at risk. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors knew this. And that's how important human connection is. The reality is that loneliness is a natural signal that our body gives us, similar to hunger, thirst. I think part of the reason is that saying you're lonely feels like saying you're not likeable, you're not lovable - that somehow you're socially deficient in some way. I say that as someone who felt ashamed of being lonely as a child and even at points during adulthood. There's a tremendous sense of shame that people who are lonely feel. And I saw in the research that loneliness was far more common than I had thought, affecting 22% of adults in America. And people wouldn't say to me, 'I'm lonely,' but they would say things like this: 'I feel like I have to shoulder all of these burdens by myself' 'I feel if I disappear tomorrow, no one would even notice.' And I heard this time and time again. But what I didn't expect was that behind so many of their stories were threads of loneliness. I heard many familiar stories about substance use and addiction, stories about depression and anxiety. On finding that loneliness is at the root of so much emotional and physical pain It's a subject he writes about in his new book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.

'I found that people who struggle with loneliness, that that's associated with an increased risk of heart disease, dementia, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances and even premature death,' he told NPR. Loneliness, he learned, was impacting them not only mentally but also physically. And one more thing - something he wasn't really prepared for - the number of Americans suffering from a lack of human connection. That meant addressing opioid addiction, diabetes and heart disease. Vivek Murthy was surgeon general of the United States during the Obama administration, he went on a listening tour of America: He wanted to hear firsthand about people's health concerns. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Together Subtitle The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World Author Vivek H.

Vivek h murthy together