Latest news with #VivekMurthy
Fast Company
2 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
U.S. moms are experiencing a sharp decline in mental health
Mothers in the U.S. are facing more widespread mental health struggles. That's according to a new study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, out this week. The research, which took place from 2016 to 2023, showed mental health declining, as self-reported by respondents. Of the 198,417 female parents of children 17 and under who were surveyed, only 25.8% reported 'excellent' mental health in 2023. Just eight years earlier, 38.4% could say the same. Mothers who described their mental health as 'good' rose from 18.8% to 26.1%, but so did those who describe it as fair/poor, which went from 5.5% to 8.5%. Mothers reported lower rates of 'excellent' physical health, too, which went from 28% to 23.9%. 'Good' physical health rose from 24.3% to 28.1%, and 'fair/poor' physical health didn't change significantly. It's certainly not the first time we've heard about parental mental health worsening in recent years. In 2024, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy published a stark warning on the decline of parental mental health in America. 'Forty-one percent of parents say that most days they are so stressed they cannot function, and 48% say that most days their stress is completely overwhelming compared to other adults (20% and 26%, respectively),' Murthy wrote in the study. However, according to the new research, moms' mental health is declining more than dads'. The mothers who reported 'fair/poor' mental health were four percentage points higher than the fathers. Unsurprisingly, the survey showed that when it comes to maternal mental health, socioeconomic factors play a big role. 'Mental health declines occurred across all socioeconomic subgroups; however, mental and physical health status was significantly lower for single female parents, those with lower educational attainment, and those with publicly insured children,' the authors noted in the study. Financial struggles are deepening for many demographics. However, parents face issues like rising childcare costs, the growing cost of feeding a family due to inflation and the impact of tariffs, as well as a challenging job market and economic uncertainty. The latest research on the cost of raising a young child is troubling, too, as it has skyrocketed to around $300,000 —an increase of 36% since 2023. Likewise, it now takes a salary of about $180,000 per year to comfortably afford childcare, according to a 2025 analysis from the National Women's Law Center. Those high costs have been driving some parents, most commonly moms, to stay home. However, given that most families need two incomes to get by, they aren't just child-rearing at home, they're also working. That means more stay-at-home moms are essentially doing two jobs at once, creating a potential firestorm of stress.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Top Health Expert Issues Stark Warning on Loneliness
In an age where social media is supposed to keep us connected, Americans are lonelier than ever—and it's killing them. Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a stark warning on Sunday, saying the negative health impacts of chronic loneliness rival those of some of the country's biggest killers. 'The overall mortality increase that can be related to social disconnection is comparable to the mortality impact of smoking and obesity,' Murthy said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' Murthy, who served during the Obama and Biden administrations, compared the dangers of chronic loneliness to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 'Our connection with one another is not just a nice thing to have—it's biologically imperative for survival, just like food and water,' he said. The consequences are serious: Murthy pointed to a 29 percent increased risk of heart disease, a 32 percent increased risk of stroke, a 50 percent higher chance of developing dementia for older adults, and a 60 percent greater likelihood of early death. Even younger generations aren't immune. Murthy warned that American youth, already struggling with digital addiction and social media pressure, are particularly vulnerable. One national survey from Harvard found that 73 percent of respondents believed technology was fueling loneliness. Murthy said kids today face an 'intense' culture of comparison online, leading to fewer in-person connections and rising anxiety and depression rates. 'There's a difference between online connections and the kind you have in person,' he said. During his tenure, Murthy released a federal advisory on the crisis, outlining a six-point action plan focused on pro-connection policies, digital reform, more research, and cultivating a culture of connection. His warning comes as roughly one in three U.S. adults report feeling lonely, and one in four report lacking social and emotional support. 'Parents do have good reason to be worried right now,' Murthy added, highlighting that loneliness isn't just sad—it's a deadly public health threat. Top Health Expert Issues Stark Warning on Loneliness first appeared on Men's Journal on May 27, 2025
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Gen Z and millennial men in the U.S. are among the loneliest in the western world. Here's why
Young men in the U.S. are among the loneliest in the western world, a new Gallup poll has found. Those between the ages of 15 and 34 reported feeling lonely more than their counterparts across 38 higher-income democratic countries—ahead of countries including France, Canada, Ireland, and Spain (and surpassed in loneliness only by young men in Turkey). This demographic is also one of the loneliest of all in the U.S., with 25% of men in this age group saying they felt lonely a lot of the previous day—significantly higher than the national average of 18% and the total for young women (also 18%). That amounts to one in four men under 35 feeling lonely. And loneliness, which was declared a national epidemic by the former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in 2023, has been found to increase the risk of developing depression, anxiety, diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only three of the countries in the poll—the U.S., Iceland, and Denmark—have a loneliness rate among young men that is higher than it is for other adults. In Iceland and Denmark, though, 15% of younger men report daily loneliness vs. 10% and 9%, respectively of the rest of the population. The gap is wider in the U.S., where 25% of young men are lonely as compared with 17% of all other adults. And while they report feeling similar levels of other emotions as other measured in the Gallup World Poll—including sadness, anger, enjoyment, laughter, feeling well-rested, and feeling respected—young American men do feel unique levels of stress and worry. Forty six percent of young American men say they experience daily worry, compared with 37% of other adults in the U.S. It's an unusually wide gap, as, across the other countries, 36% of both young men and other adults report that they felt worried the previous day (with only Germany and Sweden showing a comparable difference between young men and the rest of the population). And over half (57%) of younger American men say they feel stressed daily, compared with 48% of other U.S. adults. This 'phenomenon' of stress and loneliness, says psychologist Michael Reichert, founding director of the Center for the Study of Boys' and Girls' Lives at the University of Pennsylvania and author of How to Raise a Boy: The Power of Connection to Build Good Men, 'is the coming to a head of a set of forces that have been in existence in boys' and mens' lives for generations.' For young men, these prolific feelings of isolation—what some have even dubbed the 'male loneliness epidemic'—is the result of a slew of factors, says Justin Yong, a New York City psychotherapist specializing in men's issues. They include 'digital disconnection' through toxic-male social media—what some researchers have called 'the manosphere'—gaming, and porn, all of which 'give this short term dopamine hit and relief that replaces real intimacy and acts as a barrier to being vulnerable to how they might be feeling,' says Yong. Also an issue, he says, are 'societal norms around what it means to be a man,' pointing to the idea of 'alpha men' who attach stigma to being vulnerable. Those norms are internalized early, says Reichert, pointing to research that followed a group of 4-year-old boys for two years. It found that 'they changed from being present—authentic, direct, and expressive—to 'pretense,' learning to play the part by posturing the way the world wanted them to be as boys,' he says, meaning strong—in a macho sense—and unemotional. 'The problem, of course, is that when they became less authentic they alienated themselves from even their important relationships, feeling that they had to hide a part of themselves because the world didn't want that from them… Beginning at age 4.' These ideas are explored in Reichert's forthcoming book, No One Really Knows Me, based on findings of a State of American Men 2023 report, in which two out of three men surveyed (ages 18-23) agreed with that statement. Further, 49% of those men said they'd thought about suicide within the past two weeks. 'Those two things are related,' says Reichert, 'and that's a condition I'm calling 'developmental precarity,' which is the idea that you are on your own in your own head with no sense of someone you can trust to understand and know you. It means that when you're stressed, you really don't have anyplace to go, and that you are vulnerable to the echo chamber of your own mind.' It's something Yong sees with some of his male clients who are just out of college, struggling to form deep connections in the wider world. 'There's this erosion of male friendships,' he says. 'It seems like the depth of friendships with other men become more and more shallow, and they don't connect on things beyond sports, work, stocks. So there are men out there who are afraid to open up even to someone they might consider a good friend.' Yong, who recalls working in an all-boys high school and seeing students adhere to punishing workout and grooming regimens, understood what was motivating the behavior, though it made him sad to see. 'They didn't want to be rejected, so they acted macho about it,' he says. 'But what they were really saying is, 'I'm scared of being heartbroken. I'm sad, I'm lonely.' He suggests men try to get to the heart of what they're really feeling. Help for that, he says, could come in the form of a kind, compassionate mentor to look up to—Barack Obama, 'politics aside,' is someone he likes to point to, though it could be a coach, a professor, 'even the super in your building.' He also recommends therapy—either individual or group, the latter of which has the power of allowing men to see other men 'being vulnerable and open.' Reichert, who recently spoke on these issues for an episode of the radio show On Point, recalls a young man who talked about how he and his peers are 'in jail with our emotions.' He notes that's where caring friends and family can really affect the lives of young men. 'When we give them permission to be real,' says Reichert, 'they can break out of jail. But we have to help them.' More on mental health: Remote employees are lonelier, sadder, and angrier, survey finds Health anxiety is becoming more common. The cost is mounting The dangers of AI companions: Experts issue unprecedented warning for teens as most parents are in the dark about their habits This story was originally featured on
The Independent
5 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Loneliness as deadly as obesity and smoking pack a day, top health expert warns
Elvis Presley sang it in Heartbreak Hotel and now a top voice in American health says the classic song's chorus has become an alarming reality: Americans are feeling so lonely, they could die. Vivek Murthy, the former U.S. Surgeon General, is warning that the negative health impacts of chronic loneliness are comparable to some of the nation's biggest killers. 'The overall mortality increase that can be related to social disconnection is comparable to the mortality impact of smoking and obesity,' he told NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday. 'That's how powerful and how important loneliness is.' He cautioned that loneliness and isolation can raise people's risk for dangerous health conditions Murthy astonishingly said he found that chronic loneliness is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 'Well, it turns out that our connection with one another, this is not just a nice thing to have, it's biologically an imperative for us,' he said. 'It's something we need for survival, just like we need food and water.' Raising awareness about the loneliness and isolation epidemic was a large part of his work during the Biden administration, releasing an advisory to call attention to the issue in 2023. The guidance included a six-pronged plan of action, including to enact pro-connection policies, reform digital environments, conduct more related research, and cultivate a culture of connection. Murthy said then that the consequences of poor social connection with others include a 29 percent increased risk of heart disease, a 32 percent increased risk of stroke, a 50 percent increased risk of developing dementia for older adults, and a 60 percent increased risk of premature death. It is also connected to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Those were only some of the physical repercussions. In addition, the risk of depression among people who report feeling lonely is more than twice that of those who rarely or never feel lonely. Loneliness and social isolation in childhood also increase the risk of depression and anxiety. In the U.S., about one in three adults report feeling lonely and around one in four report not having social and emotional support, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Certain people and groups are more at-risk, including low-income adults, young adults, older adults, adults living alone, immigrants, people with a mental or physical challenge, people who are victims of violence or abuse, people facing the loss of a love one or unemployment, and people in the LGBTQIA+ community. Murthy said that kids struggle the most. 'We tend to think, 'Oh. Kids are on social media. That's great because they're connected to one another.' But, no, we have to recognize there's a difference between the connections you have online and the connections you have in person,' Murthy said. As more relationships have shifted online, more kids are struggling with an 'intense' culture of comparison, are trying to be people they're not, and don't have as many in-person friendships as we need. 'One student [who] I talked to at a college, as I was traveling the country, he said to me ... 'How are we supposed to connect with one another when it's no longer the culture for people to talk to each other?'' Murthy recalled. 'And, I saw that on college campuses,' he said. A national survey from Harvard University previously found that 73 percent of those surveyed selected technology as contributing to loneliness in the country. 'Parents do have good reason to be worried right now,' Murthy added.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Poll reveals this group is now the loneliest in the US, they are inside the shocking 'epidemic'. Here's why
American men among the loneliest Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel A new Gallup poll has found that young men in the United States of America are among the loneliest in the western world. Researchers collected data from 2023 to 2024 and discovered that US Gen Z and millennial men are the loneliest (25%) compared to only 18% of American women in the same age group, according to a report in New York report suggests that one in four American men under 35 feel more isolated than their peers in other countries — including France, Canada, Ireland and Spain. This demographic is also one of the loneliest of all in the US, with 25% of men in this age group saying they felt lonely a lot of the previous day—significantly higher than the national average of 18% and the total for young women (also 18%).In 2023, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared loneliness a national epidemic—a condition that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, raises the risk of depression, anxiety, diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and stroke. And what exactly is causing today's generation of young men to feel so secluded from the outside world? According to experts, it's from a variety of Yong, a psychotherapist based in New York City, told Fortune that many men are becoming increasingly disconnected from the world around them, largely due to the influence of digital distractions such as video games and pornography. These activities, he explained, provide short bursts of dopamine and temporary relief, which often take the place of genuine intimacy and make it harder for men to be vulnerable or process their major issue facing young men, Yong added, is the pressure to conform to traditional ideas of masculinity.'The trouble is, when men suppress parts of who they are to meet societal expectations, they start to feel disconnected—even from their closest relationships,' said psychologist Michael Reichert. 'They begin to hide aspects of themselves because they believe the world doesn't want to see those parts—this starts as early as age four.'What makes this loneliness crisis particularly alarming is its serious impact on men's World Health Organization (WHO) has found that chronic loneliness can be as harmful as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.'Loneliness is no longer a private issue—it crosses borders and has become a global public health challenge that touches every area of life, from health and wellbeing to development,' African Union Youth Envoy Chido Mpemba told The like US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy believe strongly in addressing this ongoing issue as seriously as other health concerns.'Given the profound health and societal consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an obligation to make the same investments in rebuilding the social fabric of society that we have made in addressing other global health concerns, such as tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis,' Murthy said in a statement.
