Three outstanding health items have come up this week.

Firstly there was an excellent talk on [url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2011/3359071.htm]ABC Radio National’s All In The Mind on Loneliness[/url] and its health effects. From one radio station to another I highly recommend this story.

It raises the question: What can we do locally to reduce our loneliness?

It seems like a good topic for a future interview series. In the meantime some thoughts that spring readily to mind are:

[ul]get involved with volunteering locally through local groups churches schools men’s sheds service clubscommunity radio the SES or sports clubs. Volunteer involvement is a very effective way to reduce loneliness.
locals who attend a local church regularly every Sunday and take part in some of the church small groups and social activities are less lonely
social clubs like View Club and Arana Seniors are ways to build close friendships and reduce loneliness
classes that run over a long period like U3A classes at Bunya House or the family history or writing group at the Arana Library or the yoga class at All Saints Uniting Church are ways to also form close bonds
make a point of getting to know your neighbours at least a little[/ul]

One of the hardest things about loneliness is that it breeds more loneliness. When we are lonely we become less confident of being able to handle social situations so we are more likely to say no to invitations or avoid social situations and this makes the loneliness problems worse. It is hard but the way through is to take the risk.

Loneliness is very destructive for our health so taking steps to reduce your loneliness is one of the effective things you can do locally to protect your health. Even to protect against getting Alzheimers disease.

Loneliness is closely linked to trusting other people. The less you trust other people the more likely you are to be lonely. Think about it!

How can we increase our trust of other people and reduce our loneliness? Well one way is to swing the whole trust equation back onto ourselves and look at how we can increase our ability to handle situations created by other people how we can set safe boundaries for ourselves without rejecting other people completely. Put ourselves in charge of our safety not other people. We do this when we drive on the roads all the time. Sure! other people can be lousy drivers but we can be excellent defensive drivers and notice and steer clear of unsafe situations.