It’s now clear that social connection improves physical health and overall well-being. Research suggests that people who feel connected are more likely than their peers to recover quickly from illness and live a long life. And connected people have lower levels of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and chronic negativity. On the other hand, loneliness can make you sick, attacking your immune system and even changing how your brain functions.

 

In 2016, Dr. Vivek, Murthy, then U.S. Surgeon General, sounded an alarm. “Despite the ubiquity of social media, we are facing an epidemic of loneliness and social isolation,” he said. 

 

According to Murthy, social connection is a critical component of “emotional well-being,” a “powerful resource within each of us that can reduce our risk of illness, improve our performance, and enable us to be resilient in the face of adversity.”

 

Lonely people are more likely to suffer from exhaustion or disengagement on the job. The association between loneliness and burnout can be complicated and difficult to chart. When my new clients talk about their disaffection at work, they seldom begin by using the word “lonely.” But often, as we keep talking about their unhappiness or lack of productivity, social isolation becomes a recurring theme.

 

Sometimes the root cause of your loneliness may seem obvious. Perhaps you were thrilled by an opportunity to telecommute, but now you feel bored, stale or out-of-touch, without regular opportunities to hang out with co-workers. Or maybe you work in an office that is so busy that nobody has time to chat.

 

In some cases it’s the nature of your job that leaves you feeling cut off from other people. In my May 25, 2017, podcast, Jazzed About Work, WOUB Media chief and former Athens, Ohio, Municipal Court Judge Tom Hodson talked about how lonely it can be to run a courtroom, undergo intense scrutiny and make difficult judicial decisions. Professional isolation is a necessary part of sitting on the bench, Hodson said, but it carries over to every part of a judge’s life. “You can’t just turn it on and off,” he said. The sense of being separate can touch all your relationships, including those with your family. And the strain can wear you out.

 

The sheer busy-ness of success may also leave you feeling lonely. Journalist Billy Baker heard from readers around the world after his March 9, 2017, Boston Globe Magazine article on how loneliness is a bigger threat than smoking or obesity for middle-aged men. Baker wrote that many of his close friendships had slipped away “as I structured myself into a work-family-work cycle that had left me feeling like a middle-aged loser starved for my guys.”

 

In his March 23 follow-up to the blockbuster story, Baker said the intense response to his article was a wake-up call. He started “making vows and making plans and reconnecting with old friends – many of whom reached out after reading the article. These, experts will tell you, are the exact steps you need to take to get friendships back on track, and they have immediate positive effects on your health.”

 

If you’re lonely in any part of your life, it could indeed undercut your health as well as your ability to be at your creative best in your professional life. If you’d like to feel more connected, consider these strategies:
 

We all feel lonely some of the time. It is so human. When a sense of isolation hits you, notice the feeling, then respond with the kind of compassion you would offer to a close friend. And think about your next action steps.