‘One in 4 Australians are lonely’
‘55% of Australians feel they lack companionship at least some of the time’
‘Lonely Australians are 15.2% more likely to be depressed and 13.1% more likely to be anxious about social interactions than those not lonely’
-Australian Loneliness Report - 2018 from the Australian Psychological Society and Swinburne University.
Aren’t these some eye opening statistics?! Considering that depression and anxiety can lead to suicide, these are quite alarming facts.
Right, so, what’s the solution?
Increasing social connections is the solution.
Friendship, connectedness, engagement, community – these are actually the great lifesavers!
On a recent Imperfects podcast I was listening to with Dr Emily, she was talking about how good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Where community connections are strong, people are protected from depression and even hospital admissions. Even the study of Positive Psychology acknowledges that the way we relate to, connect with, care for, and show up for ourselves and each others impacts the positive experiences and emotions we feel in day to day life.
This is something that even GP’s are taking on board, with many starting to ‘prescribe socialising’. Just like a GP might give a script to some medicine to alleviate an existing health issue, GPs can give a script for social actions and behaviours that work to address the loneliness issue. These prescriptions work because social interactions and our connectedness with others improves our immune system and can help alleviate anxiety and depression.
Christopher Peterson (who studies happiness at the University of Michigan) echoes these findings, saying, ‘it’s other people who make life worth living’ His research found that happiness is a product of the pursuits outside ourselves like friendships, relationships, family and ideas greater than ourselves. And as we learned above, happiness and social connection have a protective effect on our health.
So you can imagine the toll that all those recent pandemic lockdowns had on the individuals in our society. It really worsened an epidemic of loneliness we were already experiencing in Australia. During COVID, where connections were severely limited, there were less pleasurable experiences to make happy memories. More isolation meant more loneliness. More loneliness, more anxiety and depression. Those were some tough times.
Humans need good humans around them. When you think of a happy memory or a pleasurable experience, how often do those memories/experiences happen in isolation and how often have they occurred with other people? Chances are it was the latter.
So where do we find these good humans, these connections?
Maybe you're lucky enough to have had great lifelong friendships and bonds, people that just ‘get’ you and always have.
But not everyone has these friendships. People change, sometimes friends/family/relationships don’t change with you. Separate paths are sometimes necessary. Doesn’t mean you’re sentenced to loneliness for the rest of your life.
Sometimes it means putting yourself out there and finding or building your community.
Community around communal experiences is something I’m passionate about. Movement is my jam and movement is the experience I love to share with others. It’s the experiences I’ve been bringing to my wider community since 2020 when we were deep in lockdown (albeit virtual experiences back then!). And I’m about to share my last one for 2023.
This year I am delivering the 5 Pillars of Wellness and Pilates workshops. The first four 1) Physical 2) Stress Management 3) Nutrition and 4) Intelligence, were a huge success. My fifth one is on the last Pillar of Wellness: Social Connections. We will first enjoy a PIlates and DNS (Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilisation) movement session on our mats, followed up by an exclusive Australian Gin tasting session, coupled with nibbles, friendly chats and a free gift for all participants. All in a beautiful art gallery in Highett, Bayside. Click here for more info and tickets!
My goal for this workshop is not for me to be happy, the goal is not for you to be happy, the goal is for us to be happy. To increase our social connection. And in doing so, improve our overall health and wellbeing.