Loneliness twice as unhealthy as obesity

What are your dreams for retirement?  To up-sticks and buy your dream property abroad perhaps?  You may wish to think again after reading this article.

In reality though it is much more common now to move away from your home -town as a young adult for career opportunities. As a consequence we  leave aging  parents and grandparents behind. The studies findings point to a coming crisis as the population ages and people increasingly live alone or far from their families.

To summarise the study which looked at 2000 people aged 50 and over found that loneliness can be twice as unhealthy as obesity.  The  feelings of isolation  that these people in the study experienced had a devastating impact. The scientists  found that the loneliest were nearly twice as likely to die during the six-year study than the least lonely.

Loneliness twice as unhealthy as obesity for older people, study finds | Science | theguardian.com.