{"id":2272,"date":"2018-06-12T11:29:12","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T11:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/?p=2272"},"modified":"2018-06-12T11:30:52","modified_gmt":"2018-06-12T11:30:52","slug":"loneliness-is-rampant-according-to-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/2018\/06\/12\/loneliness-is-rampant-according-to-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Loneliness is Rampant According to Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

The health insurer Cigna recently published results of a nationwide survey of 20,000 people, showing that most Americans are lonely.<\/p>\n

More than half of survey respondents \u2014 54 percent \u2014 said they always or sometimes feel that no one knows them well. Fifty-six percent reported they sometimes or always felt like the people around them \u201care not necessarily with them.\u201d And 2 in 5 felt like \u201cthey lack companionship,\u201d that their \u201crelationships aren\u2019t meaningful\u201d and that they \u201care isolated from others.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The results were more pronounced among younger people. <\/p>\n

Members of Generation Z, born between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, had an overall loneliness score of 48.3. Millennials, just a little bit older, scored 45.3. By comparison, baby boomers scored 42.4. The Greatest Generation, people ages 72 and above, had a score of 38.6 on the loneliness scale.<\/em><\/p>\n

Loneliness has been shown to be a contributor to heart attacks, strokes, and premature death. <\/p>\n

Read more at NPR<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The full report is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This study is an indictment of the shifts in our culture away from meaningful friendships and relationships, and toward shallow, ephemeral ones. <\/p>\n

It also provides a challenge for people of faith. Here is an opportunity for churches to alleviate that loneliness and provide a source of community.<\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"