The Silent Killer That Can Be WORSE Than Smoking
Brad Stanfield
Jun 22, 2025
Mindsip insights from this episode:
Combat loneliness to slow cellular aging
Loneliness has been linked to shorter telomere length, which is a direct marker of cellular aging.
Combat social isolation to reduce mortality risk
Social isolation, an objective measure of connections, increases all-cause mortality by 32%, while the feeling of loneliness increases it by 14%.
Combat social isolation to reduce cancer and heart disease risk
Social isolation boosts the risk of cancer mortality by 24% and death from heart disease by 34%.
Recognize social isolation's health risks as severe as smoking
The causal link between social isolation and poor health is considered as well-established as the link for smoking due to the overwhelming amount of data.
Limit social media use to combat loneliness
Contrary to what one might expect, research has found that spending more time on social media is actually associated with more loneliness.
Prioritize in-person connections to combat loneliness
Successful interventions to reduce loneliness are long-term, group-based, and involve in-person contact, as online solutions do not work nearly as well.
Prioritize relationship quality at 50 for better health outcomes
The quality of your relationships at age 50 is a better predictor of health in old age than any other health measure.
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