I do not live in the US or in the West generally so I cannot attest to how swift their Emergency service is especially when it comes to health emergency but I have families and friends who live there and they mention that it is very fast and apt but in Nigeria, you do not have access to medical emergency hotlines not to mention calling them to come down because even if you do, you would be surprise not to get any help until things get worse so personally, I do advice against staying alone but a lot of people like it.
Privacy is a thing and people want theirs but I usually mention to people that if you need complete privacy, it is at the expense of what. Staying alone and living alone without anyone around can be a good thing but also have its downsides. I like cool places where I can say that I mind my business and other people do the same but this comes with a price especially in this part of the world. Everyone then begins to mind their business to the extent that if there is an emergency at a neighbor's home, no one will call for help unless there is a chance that they might be affected.
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Before I come back to that, staying alone without anyone to say good morning to at the balcony, or a person to look out to when you feel lonely can be a fast way to land yourself in depression and this is why there is a high number of people suffering from depression with about 5% of all adults suffering from depression and a large number of others not being diagnosed. The majority of people who suffer depression are people who live in cities and urban areas and these are the people who mind their businesses.
I remember there was a day I was at home alone for about 1 month, and during this period, the power supply became very epileptic and I couldn't use my phone properly. In the first few days staying alone, I was eating, sleeping and just counting the ceilings but when it was up to a week and started to get to two weeks, me who enjoyed my solitude because there was always power supply to keep me busy or help me see movies began to worry as I was not having access to electricity, and I was just alone at home. When I realized that my mood was damping, I decided to go visit friends so we can chat and keep ourselves alive. The majority of my friends who are immigrant in the UK and Canada complain about being scared of falling into depression since their lives revolve around work, home and sleep.
Back to another reason why living alone can be a bad idea when it comes to your health and emergencies. Some weeks ago I went to the Emergency world by myself when I was feeling serious chest pain and inability to move which later led to the diagnosis of Pericarditis. The point I want to bring out is this, I was home alone during this period and I had to struggle in serious pain to get to the hospital for treatment. Even when I was diagnosed wrongly, and started feeling the pain even worse at the time, I still struggled to get to the hospital for treatment but not everyone can be privileged to get themselves to the hospital. Not every condition or emergency situation will allow for people to reach for their phones. Sometimes, it is the noise made alone that will get people around to get help and help them reach the hospital but staying alone can be a big disadvantage.
I was coming home yesterday and I was told a woman in the neighborhood passed on and she was found lifeless in her home. She was alone, and all indications shows that she needed a medical emergency but there was no one to help her until she breath her last. There is a high chance that if there was another person in the house with her, or she had close neighbors that could hear her voice, she might have survived but since there were no one around to assist, she couldn't bear it for long.
While I agree with people who want to live alone for the purpose of privacy and their comfort, I really think that having people around or staying in environments were neighbors are going to quickly come to your aid if there is an emergency is good for your health just as it is good during cases of emergencies since in actual sense, we are social organisms. What do you think about staying alone and do you think it has any effect on ones health?
You Can Study More
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9210463/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795362200819X
https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10693042/
https://onherown.life/on-living-alone-and-medical-emergencies/
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199606273342606