As Americans face increasing levels of loneliness, one brain health expert says there are three significant but simple ways individuals can combat the mental health crisis spreading across the nation.
Last week, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory warning that the "epidemic" of loneliness and isolation was harming society and our health.
Brain disorder specialist and psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen agreed the report raised important concerns about the "very significant problem in our society."
"So I've been a psychiatrist for 40 years and I have seen increasing levels of loneliness and isolation happening ever since about 2007 with smartphones," he told Fox News Digital. "Even children get locked into them, which disconnects them to other people. It's happening to older people as well."
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Increased isolation and deteriorating mental health only became worse with the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
"And then with the lockdowns, the societal unrest, the fear— people are more afraid of each other than ever before," Amen noted. "And it's having a really negative impact on our brains and our mental health, with the mental health problems in children skyrocketing to a level never seen before."
The Surgeon General's 81-page advisory warns loneliness can be as damaging to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
"Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death," Murthy wrote in the report.
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Dr. Amen agreed that the lack of human connection was associated with significant mental health problems, from anxiety and depression to Alzheimer's Disease.
However, he told Fox News Digital that there were several ways to fight loneliness. Perhaps the most obvious solution was to spend less time online and more time with others, face-to-face.
"Look for ways to limit gadgets in your life and look for ways to increase connection," Amen said.
Volunteering can also have a significant impact. Research shows it doesn't just help others, but it also helps boost the brain's mood center, which is vulnerable to dementia.
He cited a study where the brains of older adults who enrolled in a volunteer program were compared to the brains of adults in the same age group that were not volunteering. Afterwards they measured the brain's hippocampus, which is responsible for mood and memory. It grew in the adults who had volunteered, while the control group's memory centers shrank.
Dr. Amen described another study out of the United Kingdom which showed how the importance of disciplining one's mind can fight loneliness.
"What they did was hire and train thousands of cognitive behavior therapists. So cognitive behavior therapists are therapists that teach people not to believe every stupid thing they think. I mean, basically, they teach you how to discipline your mind. I call it killing the A.N.T.S., the automatic negative thoughts that steal your happiness," Amen explained. "And they found it was money really well spent, because when they got people who struggled with anxiety and depression to manage their mind — so not medicine — to manage their mind, they became less lonely. They became more social."
Amen argued that a similar program here would be a huge help for our own society.
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"Because if you think about it, if you are filled with negative thoughts, you're more likely to have social anxiety and you're not going to be connected to other people," he said. "So I think the surgeon general could do a huge public service by having therapists and programs in place to teach people to manage their minds."
The surgeon general's report similarly suggests simple ways individuals can find social connection. "Answer that phone call from a friend. Make time to share a meal. Listen without the distraction of your phone. Perform an act of service," Murthy wrote.
He warned that failing to address society's loneliness will continue to impact our country in more ways than one.
"If we fail to do so [address the loneliness epidemic], we will pay an ever-increasing price in the form of our individual and collective health and well-being. And we will continue to splinter and divide until we can no longer stand as a community or a country. Instead of coming together to take on the great challenges before us, we will further retreat to our corners—angry, sick, and alone," Murthy's report continued.
