Loneliness is on the rise globally — here are 5 ways to combat it

20% of the world’s employees face daily loneliness, according to Gallup’s 2024 State of the Global Workplace report. 

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Globally, one out of five employees experience loneliness everyday, and younger staff are even more prone to the feeling.

According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report released on June 12, as many as 20% of employees globally experience daily loneliness. For those who always work from home and workers under the age of 35, loneliness is even more common at 22% and 25%, respectively.

We’re living in the best time in human history — if humanity’s mental health is rapidly declining during a golden era of progress and prosperity, it would present one of the greatest paradoxes of our time.

Globally, employee wellbeing declined in 2023, particularly among younger employees (under age 35), according to the study. Not only is the global workforce experiencing loneliness, but stress, sadness, and anger are also on the rise, according to the Gallup poll.

“The global deterioration of mental health is concerning. Some worry we’re spiraling out of control,” Gallup CEO Jon Clifton said in the report.

“If humanity’s mental health is rapidly declining during a golden era of progress and prosperity, it would present one of the greatest paradoxes of our time,” he wrote.

This study pulled data from the Gallup World Poll conducted across more than 160 countries and areas globally.

“Work plays a central role in our identities, our social lives, our finances, our health, and our standing and involvement in our communities,” Gallup’s chief scientist for workplace Jim Harter told CNBC Make It.

“We’ve all experienced changes in our workplaces since the pandemic hit in and around 2020 — there have been some unintended consequences of flexibility and physical distance—it can turn into mental distance,” Harter said.

As loneliness becomes endemic, it’s critical to find ways to protect against it. Here’s how you can fight loneliness, according to clinical psychologist Dr. Annabelle Chow:

Understand loneliness

Meaningful connections

“What makes a happy life is meaningful connections,” said Chow. Without this, naturally, people will feel lonely, even if they have all the comforts in the world.

If one feels a lack of social interaction, Chow suggests putting in the effort to develop meaningful relationships with friends and work colleagues. Participate in office gatherings, approach people with openness, and put yourself in situations where you can connect with people.

“If we don’t give people a chance to understand us, if you don’t interact with people, then we will not actually give ourselves an opportunity to develop a relationship. If we don’t develop the relationship, — we have nothing to draw upon when times are hard,” said Chow.

It’s also important to develop different types of friends. Having your party friends, work friends, and your “heart-to-heart” friends, and in conjunction, cultivating the awareness to know which friend to contact when, she said.

Developing these relationships ahead of time will help deal with loneliness when it comes knocking.

Healthy habits

“If I spent my whole weekend on the sofa doing nothing and just doom scrolling, then naturally once you pass the stage of feeling well rested, you’re going to feel lonely,” said Chow.

However, having healthy habits and routines in place will help pull you out of those situations. “If you have something that you have locked into your schedule that is regular, for example, a yoga class — that daily routine that can help to remove those pockets of time that can amplify loneliness,” she said.

Cognitive reframing

Sometimes, the feeling of loneliness can stem from our own projections.

“A lot of my patients experience loneliness, and when we talk about it deeply, [we realize] they have preconceived ideas about how people perceive them, which may or may not actually be the truth, but then they respond to their version of what they think people think of them,” Chow said.

“For example, if I think that you don’t like me, and that may or may not be the reality, but — I become a bit more careful, a bit more defensive — and the natural consequence of that, is the relationship is not likely to blossom,” she said.

The remedy for this is to challenge and restructure your thoughts, Chow said. Instead of just carrying the weight of assumptions, have honest conversations.

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