Isolation ‘as harmful as a 15-a-day smoking habit’

SOCIAL isolation is as damaging to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, an academic advising the Government on lockdown has warned.

As the nation remains cut off from family and friends, fears are growing over the physical and psychological impact of stringent social distancing measures. Studies have found that being isolated can increase your risk of death by up to 30 per cent, similar to the impacts from obesity or smoking.

Prof Stephen Reicher, who is part of a group of behavioural scientists advising the Government, said: “The problem with lockdown is isolation; being cut off from people is bad for you psychologically and physically. It is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Human beings are social animals. Being connected is remarkably important not just for your mental health but for your physical health.”

The professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews said that, as distancing measures are needed to prevent the spread of the virus, it is important for people to find other ways to communicate, such as video calling, which has seen a surge in popularity.

However, surveys by the Office of National Statistics have shown that, while online communication is the most common coping method, levels of loneliness are still rising while households are banned from mixing.

In 2015, researchers from Brigham Young University in the US found that “substantial evidence now indicates that individuals lacking social connections (both objective and subjective social isolation) are at risk for premature mortality”.

Studies have found that social isolation can lead to symptoms associated

‘Being cut off from people is bad for you psychologically and physically. Human beings are social animals’

with the development of cardiovascular disease and can cause sleeplessness, high blood pressure and reduced immune functioning. There are also links between social isolation and a lack of exercise, it has been found.

Meanwhile, rates of anxiety and depression are rising under lockdown as people are increasingly concerned about the state of their mental health.

Prof Reicher said that from the data he had seen the “overwhelming story [of lockdown] is still how high the levels of adherence are and how positive relations between people are”.