Every day, 18 young Australians – aged between 18 and 45 years – will have a stroke. Almost one in four of all strokes in Australia occur to young people. Globally, the occurrence of strokes in young people is increasing.
In parts of the US, the number of young adults having strokes has nearly doubled over the past few years.
What’s going on?
Lifestyle factors get the overall blame: Unhealthy diet, limited exercise, smoking and consuming too much alcohol.
Curiously, the rising numbers of younger stroke victims has gone hand-in-hand with the loneliness epidemic.
An unhappy coincidence? No. A recent study found that the longer you suffer from loneliness, the greater your risk of stroke. And the disability that often comes with it.
Loneliness comes out of the closet
Ever since the Covid lockdowns, loneliness has emerged as a profoundly disturbing social trend. Which is a good thing, believe it or not.
For decades researchers had known that loneliness and social isolation were bad for one’s physical health. But it wasn’t an issue that found purchase in the public mind.
Nor was it a priority for those who develop public health policy, or doctors, in Australia.
This was probably because loneliness was perceived to be an older person’s burden. Just one more unhappy thing to look forward to, if one is to take the bleaker view.
Then Covid arrived. Those closely-studied lockdowns revealed that loneliness wasn’t primarily an older person issue after all.
As a 2022 pro bono report from KPMG revealed:
“Young adults are at particularly high risk, with 37-50 per cent of people aged 18-24 reported to be lonely.”
That so many young adults are suffering from loneliness raises an important question. What happens to people when they suffer loneliness for a long time?
Research has identified a certain level of risk to your brain and heart health linked to loneliness. We didn’t know if that level of risk increases over time or was fixed.
A new study has changed that.
Measuring stroke risk over time
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