The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic created a completely new normal for life as we know it, exacerbating a host of mental health, behavioral and financial hardships that have changed our sense of normality from day to day. But one of the most silent side-effects of an extended period of quarantining ourselves to abide by public health guidelines is the rapid uptick in loneliness experienced by Americans still struggling to rebuild a sense of social connectivity in their lives.
Recently, Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy detailed concern behind a rare advisory to address loneliness and social disconnect within the United States, suggesting the need for a framework to rebuild social connection and community in what is now becoming a “lonely nation.”
“Loneliness and isolation hurt whole communities. Social disconnection is associated with reduced productivity in the workplace, worse performance in school, and diminished civic engagement,” Murthy wrote in an opinion essay for the New York Times. “As it has built for decades, the epidemic of loneliness and isolation has fueled other problems that are killing us and threaten to rip our country apart.”
According to the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, social disconnection significantly increases the risk of anxiety and depression, including the increased risk of heart disease by 29%, stroke by 32%, and even dementia by an astounding 50% increase.
Locally, District physicians have also witnessed the growing trend gradually harming the physical and mental health of many Washingtonians. Dr. Reginald Robinson, a cardiologist with MedStar Health Cardiology Associates, and Board President of the Eastern States of the American Heart Association, discussed the insidious domino effect that prolonged feelings of loneliness can cause on the body and mind.
“Stress and anxiety certainly can affect your sleep/wake cycle, [and] can affect your heart rate. People come in with triggers like palpitations or skipped [heart] beats, and stress and anxiety can cause that. So, you have a lot more people that were coming in for palpitations or chest pain, whether it was [the] heart versus acid reflux, it can increase your risk of acid build up in the stomach and cause “heartburn” [which] feels like you are having a heart attack. So it can precipitate those things; palpitations, blood pressure, and chest pain,” Robinson explained.
When observing the consequences of grief, this type of stress can produce what is called takotsubo’s cardiomyopathy or “broken-heart syndrome.”
Some women, particularly those in their 30s or 40s, after undergoing a stressful event, can experience a full heart attack but with the arteries physically appearing clean, differing from the usual state of one’s blocked arteries amid the typical heart attack. Theories behind this suggest the fight or flight response, or the adrenaline surge that causes the arteries to spasm and create a heart attack without traditionally showing rupturing of the arteries.
Patients who have suffered takotsubo’s cardiomyopathy tend to have a better recovery, but the stress that causes the “broken heart syndrome” still remains a very serious ordeal.
How To Combat The Daunting Feeling of Loneliness
Dr. Robinson highly encourages physical activity, particularly among organized groups where people can not only maintain a level of exercise to encourage better health, but immerse themselves into social groups of people who are enjoying the same activities and building some sense of community within these spaces.
“I used to do Muay Thai, which is Taiwanese kickboxing, martial arts, and Brazilian jiu jitsu, and those are things you do with other people. You don’t have to get in there and compete, but they have a lot of young women and men in these classes. You have people that do kickboxing classes, or boxing classes [as well]. That’s a great way of not only getting physically fit but also learning a defense mechanism,” said Robinson. “I noticed that they opened up a new pickleball court with roller skating in downtown D.C. So getting into something like that.
While Robinson said pickleball is generally associated with seniors, he believes “they are trying to make it en vogue for younger people as well.”
“They have tournaments all over the place,” Robsinson added.
The Office of the U.S. Surgeon General suggest, “The Six Pillars to Advance Social Connection” with the following directives to:
- Strengthen Social Infrastructure in Local Communities, which would establish “community connection programs,” along with investing in local institutions that can help to bring people together.
- Enact Pro-Connection Public Policies, which will establish cross-departmental leadership across all levels of government, while adopting a “Connection-in-All-Policies” approach.
- Mobilize the Health Sector, which will train health care providers and expand public health surveillance and interventions.
- Reform Digital Environments to establish and implement safety standards.
- Deepen Our Knowledge by accelerating research funding and increasing public awareness.
Build a Culture of Connection by cultivating values of kindness, respect, service and commitment to one another, in conjunction with expanding the conversation on social connection across workplaces, schools and communities.