Do you feel lonely?
Do you live alone in your home? How much time do you spend with your family? How much do you rely on mobiles and computers to interact with others? How often do you have a feeling of loneliness? Do you spend more time on social media in order to avoid the feeling of loneliness?
In this modern world where we all are globally connected, we still feel alone, unsupported, distressed, and separated from others. Loneliness is a common emotion that people experience in this modern age. People try to avoid complaining and talking about the isolation that they feel in their daily life because of the fear of being judged.
How loneliness damages our health?
The only mistake that we make while having the feelings of loneliness is we stop talking to others, we stop telling people about the way we feel, and we stop expecting from others to make us feel good. We, humans, are designed in a way that we need people to spend a happy and peaceful life. We all find it good to do life together. We all are wired to be people in some way or the other and when we isolate ourselves from this world, we start developing a different kind of problems in our body and soul. Yes, we all should have a “me” time but when we make it a habit to keep ourselves isolated and lonely, it starts damaging our body, mind, and soul.
Loneliness when becomes persistent starts causing accelerated aging with a lot of severe health consequences that sometimes lead to death. Some studies suggest that feeling lonely and isolated all the time is as threating to life as alcohol, cigarettes, and obesity. Loneliness holds the ability to impair our health by increasing the level of stress hormones and inflammation that in turn raise the risk of dementia, heart diseases, diabetes, arthritis, and even suicide attempts. It is associated with problematic changes in the hormonal, cardiovascular and immune functions of the body. It also leads to frailty which is a condition that occurs in old age when vulnerability approaches its maximum and independence is minimized.
According to a new research, there are a lot of people today who feel lonely and isolated in their lives so they try to spend more and more time on social media so that they can fight their feelings of isolation and loneliness. People can feel lonely even if they are surrounded by thousands of people especially when the relationships are not emotionally rewarding.
Ways to overcome the feelings of loneliness
We all experience loneliness from time to time at some phase of life. It affects everyone at different times or states and in different ways. Loneliness is more than a fleeting feeling for some people as it harms people in many ways. The thing is, we all can overcome loneliness but it needs constant effort and determination.
Here are some tips listed down to overcome the feelings of isolation and loneliness:
⦁ Don’t keep yourself separated from others
When you are feeling lonely, it becomes hard to engage with people and talk to them but when you decide to keep your company only, it makes the matter worse. Loneliness is basically not feeling comfortable with people. When you do not let people come close to you, you are absolutely going to feel alone at some point in life. So, in order to overcome loneliness, try to talk to people and spend more and more time with them.
⦁ Try to keep yourself busy
Yes, it may be the last thing to do when you are feeling lonely but this tip really works. Try to engage yourself in some activity that makes you happy or join some group where you can talk about yourself and your interests. Develop a routine and manage your work in an organized manner. This will surely help you to overcome your loneliness.
⦁ Ask for help
Loneliness is a constant fight and you cannot overcome this battle alone. You need some people that can help you in making you feel good about yourself and can make efforts for you to get out of this phase. Find someone to talk about your situation and this will make a huge difference. Whether it is a friend, family, or relatives, try to reach out to people that can tell you a different message about yourself. When you feel isolated or bad, you need to hear from other people that you really matter and you are worthy. So, never be afraid of talking about your situation. Let people know about your battle so that you can have a life free of isolation.
