Lonely people are more likely to get heart disease, strokes, anxiety, depression, dementia … Add it all up, and they’re 26% more likely to die early. How do you avoid joining the unhappy millions?
I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about a lonely old age. Closing in on my 61st birthday, eight years into a very happy marriage, I’ve got a wife, two teenage stepkids, an older daughter by an ex, a grandson and four siblings. Most of them at least tolerate me; a few even tell me that they love me. But maybe I’m taking too much for granted. People die, drift apart, fall out – and anyone who knows me will tell you that I can be very irritating.
Fifteen or 20 years from now it’s not inconceivable that none of my family will want to have much to do with me.
About Author
More Stories
My petty gripe: our slovenly attitude to soap dispensers just won’t wash | Elias Visontay
My husband left me last Christmas. How do I get closure?
We didn’t make it to the Paralympics, but we still have hope: the Gazan paracyclist