Loneliness is something almost everyone will experience and preventing it could save Australia billions of dollars in healthcare. It's considered a priority public health issue by many countries. And now there's a growing push for the Australian government to see it the same way.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 From instant messages to video calls, bridging geographical gaps, we're more connected than
00:07 ever before. But people are feeling more disconnected and lonely.
00:16 We're online a lot and we've lost that connectivity.
00:20 Janine McAnally lives by herself in Dubbo. She says loneliness has been a constant in
00:26 her life.
00:27 My husband was diagnosed with a brain tumour after we had our daughter. That was hard.
00:34 Now chronic back pain makes it hard to leave the house.
00:42 I was always trying to be a bit of a social person because I needed that to combat loneliness
00:49 or depression.
00:51 The World Health Organisation has declared loneliness a global public health concern.
00:57 In the United States, it's been labelled an epidemic. And experts say Australia is falling
01:02 behind other countries when it comes to addressing it.
01:06 Almost one in three Australians report feeling lonely and one in six Australians actually
01:11 reported what we call severe levels of loneliness.
01:16 In Australia, research shows 18 to 24 year olds are the age group most affected by loneliness.
01:23 Clubs like this running club in Sydney are growing in popularity.
01:27 It's just hard when you're getting a bit older to make friends. How do you make friends?
01:30 You come to things like this and you put yourself out there.
01:33 A growing body of research has found the health risks of loneliness comparable to smoking
01:38 daily, drinking excessively or obesity. People who experience it are four times more likely
01:44 to have depression and anxiety and they're twice as likely to have a chronic disease
01:49 and are at risk of dying earlier. It's estimated to cost the Australian economy $2.7 billion
01:55 a year.
01:57 I think the Australian government can do more.
02:00 Actually look at the policies in which we live, work and play with each other.
02:04 Good morning Frank.
02:06 Carolyn Newman spends her mornings calling isolated elderly people to make sure they're
02:11 okay.
02:12 She may be the only person they speak to and that can be true even if they live in a high
02:19 rise block of units.
02:20 Small steps to solving a colossal problem.
02:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]