Thurston County declares a loneliness crisis. Here’s what that means

Loneliness can be all-consuming, impacting our mental and physical health.

That’s why Thurston County is getting serious about getting connected, with the county health board declaring local loneliness a ‘public health crisis’.

“We have become very comfortable in what is really unhealthy for us,” says Brian Windrope, who spearheaded the initiative, after researching how physically harmful loneliness can be.

“That was a wakeup call,” says Windrope.

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Long term impacts of loneliness are real and dangerous

Windrope says while everyone knows the feeling of loneliness not everyone knows the long-term impact.

A 2023 report by the Surgeon General found social isolation as damaging to our physical health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

The CDC found that chronic loneliness leads to higher blood pressure, heart disease, obesity rates, and cognitive decline.

Loneliness can increase risk of dementia

A study with the National Institute of Aging found isolation can increase your risk of dementia by 31%.

“It took it from being something we all thought was just sort of ‘too bad or sad’ to being something where we realized, oh my gosh, no, this is this reduces our quality and quantity of life in ways that we have to take very seriously,” says Windrope.

Thurston County’s crisis declaration doesn’t come with funding or policy change, just a public awareness campaign.

“Raising awareness, I think, has the power to make an enormous difference in the choices we all make about how we spend our time, how we support our neighbors and community and interact within our families,” says Windrope.