By Miriam Kirmayer — 2021
Research suggests that chronic loneliness may be as damaging to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. But do we know what loneliness actually is?
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As a new mum, I know loneliness cuts deep – and the lack of services for parent and child plays a large part in this.
New motherhood comes with many joys and challenges. What you may not be expecting is the sense of isolation that is common for parents who have just given birth to a baby, especially for first-time mothers.
I have three children, some really good girlfriends, and family who lives close by that I can count on. Yet I am still taken aback by the lonely feelings that live inside me since I became a mother.
With the Olympics drawing to a close, many athletes will begin to turn their attention to a crucial yet daunting question: what’s next?
There is a very particular loneliness that comes from being alone with a small child. A tang. A hum. A hollow. When it’s just you and your child, for hour after hour, you can start to feel very small and very far away.
I know I am not alone in feeling alone. This winter, so many of us are walking around lonely, thirsty for community and connection. This much isolation and distance and anxiety around every interaction is not normal.
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Columnist Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity, the quest for well-being, and life balance in stressful times.
We're living in what you might call an epidemic of loneliness. Recent research has shown that many of the people we feel close to probably don't reciprocate the feeling.
Humans can survive three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food and — according to survival lore — three months without companionship. Whether true or not, what’s clear is that people need people.