Are You Feeling Lonely?
This questionnaire from Cigna measures your feelings of loneliness and offers solutions to help increase your social connections.
Doctors, researchers, and other health care providers have found that loneliness is a growing public health problem, one that can impact both physical and mental well-being. While loneliness is not a diagnosable medical condition, research [PDF] has shown that it has the same impact on death rates as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
In May 2018, Cigna surveyed 20,000 adults to understand the impact of loneliness in the United States. Cigna’s U.S. Loneliness Index showed:
- Nearly 50% of Americans reported sometimes or always feeling alone;
- One in four Americans rarely or never feel as though there are people who understand them; and
- Generation Z (adults ages 18-22) is the loneliest generation and claims to be in worse health than people older than them.
We used an abbreviated version of the UCLA Loneliness Index in our questionnaire to help you assess how loneliness may be impacting you, with simple steps to increase your social connections.
We encourage you to have a conversation with your health care provider about how you’re feeling – both mentally and physically.