tend to report that their greatest challenge

is the soul-destroying loneliness.

We're prone to feeling lonely when we're socially isolated,

but we can also feel lonely when we're not isolated,

when we're in relationships with people who care about us.

So, what is that "terrible loneliness,"

as philosopher Bertrand Russell puts it,

where "one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world

into the cold, unfathomable, lifeless abyss."

Loneliness is the unwelcome feeling that we lack companions,

that we have fewer or poorer relationships than we want.

Feeling lonely is like feeling pain, thirst and fear.

It triggers our "fight or flight" response.

In small doses, loneliness can help us.

It can prod us to reach out to other people,

but when loneliness becomes chronic and acute, it's corrosive.

Some of us turn to drugs to deal with loneliness.

Some of us join abusive relationships or gangs.

It's correlated with health risks

such as depression, reduced immunity, and even suicidal behaviour.

Studies indicate that young people feel lonely

as often as older people do.

Even young children can feel deep loneliness.

If loneliness is a serious social problem,

what do we do about it?

Can we have a right not to be lonely?

We cannot have a right against feeling lonely,

but we could have rights against

some of the underlying conditions that tend to cause loneliness.

Such as a right not to be persistently socially isolated,

including a right not to be left to fend for ourselves

}when we need help to stay social,

like the physically impaired person

}who needs some help to get out of the house.

Although this isn't currently an explicit right

in international agreements,

arguably it should be,

because human rights are about the brute moral minimum

that we owe each other as human beings.

In addition to talking about rights,

we can work individually to alleviate our own and each other's loneliness.

There is value in small social connections,

like the visit to the doctor, the ride on the bus,

and the trip to the grocery shop.

We can make it a habit, as writer George Monbiot suggests,

to start conversations with people we don't know.

These micro-moments of connection aren't just nice,

according to social psychologist Barbara Fredrickson,

they change us for the better, emotionally and physically.

It's like getting exercise.

And it goes both ways,

our heart's capacity for love obeys the biological law: Use it or lose it.

As children's singer Charlotte Diamond puts it:

Give four hugs a day - that's the minimum, not the maximum.

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