Surgeon general: Loneliness poses risks as deadly as smoking

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May 2nd, 2023

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Feb. 8, 2022, on youth mental health care. On Tuesday, June 25, 2024, Murthy, the nation's top doctor, declared gun violence a public health crisis, driven by a growing number of injuries and deaths involving firearms in the country. The advisory came as the U.S. grappled with another weekend marked by mass shootings that left dozens of people dead or wounded. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Widespread loneliness in the U.S. poses health risks as deadly as smoking a dozen cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions of dollars annually, the U.S. surgeon general said Tuesday in declaring the latest public health epidemic.

About half of U.S. adults say they’ve experienced loneliness, Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a report from his office.

“We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience. It’s like hunger or thirst. It’s a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing,” Murthy told The Associated Press in an interview. “Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that’s not right. That’s why I issued this advisory to pull back the curtain on a struggle that too many people are experiencing.”

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