2023-12-28 10:25:14
Christmas is a time of gathering, of celebration, of feeling good with loved ones. Therefore, those people who feel alone in their daily lives notice loneliness even more on special dates like these.
He State Observatory of Unwanted Loneliness (SoledadEs), a research exchange space that aims to understand the dimension of involuntary isolation in Spain, states that at least 1 in 10 people always or almost always feel alonea feeling that increases on dates as marked as Christmas.
Specifically, in one of his studies titled ‘The cost of unwanted loneliness in Spain‘and has the support of Nextdooris analyzed When does loneliness affect you the most? and states that 10.2% of people who feel lonely in Spain suffer more from loneliness during Christmas.
The main objective of study is the Estimation of the costs caused by unwanted loneliness in Spain from a social perspectiveanalyzing through surveys the causes and consequences of involuntary isolation in Spain, as well as its relationship with health and the social agents driving change.
Loneliness and health
Loneliness can occur at any time in life. Some circumstances may be the loss of a spouse, the departure of children from the family home, or the death of family and friends…
Although the mechanisms that explain the relationship between loneliness and health status are not completely known, a first hypothesis of the study carried out by SoledadEs maintains that social relationships provide the individual with resources that help develop adaptive behaviors or neuroendocrine responses to certain stress factors, such as suffering from an illness.
In this sense, feeling alone and having little social contact can lead, for example, to a situation of depression and cognitive deterioration.
A second hypothesis refers to the fact that A socially active life is a protective factor for the health of the individual, by modifying certain behaviors related to your health. For example, having contact with people who have healthy lifestyle habits can reinforce healthy behaviors and a more active and less lonely life.
Among the conclusions drawn from the study on the relationship between unwanted loneliness and health, they highlight that The feeling of loneliness worsens people’s health statusincreases the risk of premature death, and is accompanied by a greater frequency of consumption of health services and medications.
72.5% think that fighting unwanted loneliness should be a priority issue for administrations. EFE/ David Arquimbau
Causes and costs of involuntary isolation
Among the main causes of involuntary isolation indicated by the observatory, highlight the lack of coexistence and family and social support, present in 57.3% of the people surveyed who were lonely.
This lack of support may be due to the distance in which family members live (11.9%), having stopped living with the people they previously lived with (10.5%) or not feeling understood by the people in their home. its surroundings (8.5%).
Furthermore, the study indicates that 13.4% of the population says they suffer from unwanted loneliness, a problem that women suffer more than men (14.8% and 12.1%, respectively), and young people more than older people, and which increases during Christmas.
Economically speaking, this research, in its objective of analyzing the costs, incidence and causes of involuntary isolation in Spain, maintains that unwanted loneliness represents an annual cost of around 14,000 million euros.
Volunteering and solidarity against loneliness
The Volunteer Platform of Spain is a member of SoledadES and in its study ‘Voluntary Action in 2023’ maintains that a total of 4.5 million people over 14 years of age carry out some type of volunteering in Spain, which represents 11% of the Spanish population. Of that 11%, 9.1% have some disability.
Since 2014, the Spanish Volunteering Platform carries out an annual survey aimed at the general population through which it analyzes how volunteering evolves in our country.
On this occasion, the research that has been deployed territorially by carrying out a total of 6,938 interviews indicates that Almost half of the Spanish population over 14 years of age collaborates with some social entity.
Volunteering has positive effects on social relationships and is a “vaccine” against loneliness and that is why the percentage of volunteers who feel lonely is almost 25% lower than in the population as a whole.
Furthermore, surveys also indicate that the 60% of people who do not volunteer would be willing to do so to combat unwanted loneliness.
Donation stands out as the most recurring activity, whether in the form of financial contributions or through in-kind donations that include contributions of clothing, food, among others.
Alone person on a bench. Image provided by SoledadES.
Politicians and media, drivers of change
On the other hand, SoledadES remembers that in her previous work, ‘Study on the perception of unwanted loneliness’targets politicians and the media such as main agents involved in improving loneliness, which is a problem for 92% of the population.
Through a survey carried out with more than 400 people between 16 and 74 years old residing in Spain, the report specifically indicated that 92.9% of Spaniards believe that loneliness is a fairly or very important social problem that must be addressed with public policies and information from the media.
In this sense, a 72.5% think that fighting unwanted loneliness should be a priority issue for administrations and more than 50% attribute them the role of ensuring that no one feels alone.
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