People who are lonely tend to feel worse mentally and physically, and when they are not well, they usually suffer worse symptoms than those who are not lonely, a new study has revealed. Loneliness is deadlier than obesity and should be treated as a public health risk, a new study has revealed. Researchers in the US examined 218 studies into the health effects of loneliness and social isolation. They found that social isolation raised a person’s risk of death by half compared to obesity, which raised the risk of death by only 30 percent. Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, lead author, and professor of psychology at Brigham Young University said: “Being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need, crucial to both well-being and survival. “Extreme examples show infants in custodial care who lack human contact fail to thrive and often die, and indeed, social isolation or solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment. “Yet an...