The Importance of Loneliness in Research

Loneliness is increasing in Western society, at least anyway. So first off, is that true? And if so, do we know why? Well, I've spent much of my academic career researching what we might loosely call marginalised groups and I've spent a lot of time looking at and evaluating interventions to support different groups. For example, Fit for the Future was designed to improve physical activity and well-being of older people. But one of the main benefits of the programme was that actually older people were meeting other like-minded people and felt less isolated and lonely. If you have a well designed area where people can meet and feel safe and can interact with other people, they're less