How social factors can increase the risk of mortality, % increase
Living alone
32
Social isolation
29
Loneliness
26
13
Depression
43
Mortality
46
How health risks are reduced for people who have a higher sense of purpose, % decrease
Source: Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults: Opportunities for the Health Care System, Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2020; Ying Chen et al., “Sense of purpose in life and subsequent physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health: An outcome-wide approach,” American Journal of Health Promotion, Jan 2022, Volume 36, Number 1
Sleep problems
Sleep problems
–13
Depression
–43
Mortality
–46
How health risks are reduced for people who have a higher sense of purpose,
% change
Loneliness
26
Social isolation
29
Living alone
32
How social factors can increase the risk of mortality,
% change