in fact we prayed. here watching t.w. news remember you can keep up to date with all the latest on our website that's d w dot com i'm claire richardson in berlin and thanks so much for watching. go beyond. the stories that. really. whatever it takes. to go running around trying to get to enjoy the good you know that. you made for mines.

feeling lonely around a lot of people isn't a contradiction in terms. christiane adi's has been living in hamburg for 6 months is a biologist who moved here for work now all he needs is a new circle of friends. to come and i come from a small town with 20000 residents a big city has lots of people but you can feel lost. or you see other people since you don't know them you still feel lonely. maybe even lonelier because there are so many people. advise me that i've never been the kind of guy to go into a bar and chat to people. maybe as a student in a student pub but otherwise i've never done that it's just not my thing but. this family lives far away in southern germany because 20204 before taking the job and homework leaving his university friends behind. openly admitting you're lonely is still a social taboo yet one in every 10 people are thought to be affected by it with

grave consequences. studies show that chronic loneliness can make people ill physically as well as mentally. yet doctors and scientists are only beginning to understand why that is. is loneliness a personal problem or a serious social issue. like christiane many people feel lonely and isolated after a move. germany's federal statistical office says each year 6 percent of the population moves home. christiane works on his own out the field with no colleagues for companionship. a lot of fun at 1st i spent many nights sitting at home on the sofa but because i didn't know where to go to meet people just because you couldn't

summon the energy to find out how to finish the noida. christiane adi says apartment is located in southern humble work in the enix of a single family home. originally he planned to move in with his long term girlfriend but then they broke up. i think i'm someone who doesn't much like being alone but i'm trying to enjoy the single life and learning to deal with it. even though it's quite an adjustment and not so easy in this life. i just feel so lonely and socially isolated as i live off the beaten path. sam a bit depressed because i just miss people human contact conduct. but how can you find new friends it's not easy to meet other singles in this neighborhood which is mainly home to families. but single person households are increasingly common in europe. in germany 41

percent of people live alone. in sweden it's a huge 51 percent while in portugal in slovakia it's just 22 percent. christiane decided to take action after finding out about a friendship app called 25 friends registered users can meet up at gatherings or activities with a limited number of participants christiane quickly created a profile providing his name date of birth and a photo now he was ready to meet other users the bigger the city the more invitations there are to join in group activities they didn't use days on line dating is commonplace so i thought why not i mean it's worth a try for me it'll probably be perfect but i'm on the go a lot so i can get to know people in the city on the way who mentions and. at the whole university in the western german city of. researchers investigate the effects

of loneliness on the human psyche. mike alumina is a psychologist and her research she differentiates between being alone social isolation and loneliness. against mr she says i love kites important to realize that loneliness isn't the same as being alone we understand loneliness to be the subjective feeling that the social contacts the relationships you have aren't enough that you have fewer than you'd like all maybe the relationships on just good as you'd like people suffer from that it hurts as much as physical pain has. some people need a lot of social contacts others feel well connected with just 2 friends but being a lonely for a long time changes a person and possibly others to get studio in the lead there are studies which suggest that loneliness is contagious one of the effects of loneliness is that you

withdraw from others all simply become a somewhat more unpleasant person. the size that means relationships suffer when a person is lonely and in the long run your partner can start to feel lonely too and some of. the causes of loneliness are as diverse as the people themselves however they're identifiable risk factors primarily health problems or major life changes like a separation a move or unemployment or mental health issues like depression. but what about being poor. sociologist sebastian link is the co-author of a study which examines how poverty influences social relationships. then there are mood when we talk about poverty we need to be conscious that poverty is a phenomenon that's accompanied by social withdrawal and

a sense of shame and charm good food i'm here and of course that also makes the poor less miserable. i don't see that. in germany anyone who earns less than 60 percent of the average net income so less than $1100.00 euros per month is said to be poor. link study shows that poverty makes it hard to build and maintain social relationships. poor people don't fully participate in society. today is a must and link is visiting a neighborhood project in berlin's courts back district he greets the organizers. social workers carla miranda in tim organized neighborhood meetings along with free cooking courses art classes and yoga sessions. they lend a sympathetic ear to the locals problems they just might catch up on the forget if i know i don't have much money where can i meet new people if i conquer 2

restaurants with the cinema that's hard to see this here is very low threshold but i just come in and there's something for me there are people who greet me and want me to stay and most of what's on offer here is free. cost and also. the boston link study shows that after 2 years of living in poverty people are less likely to meet with friends let's zoom in that i want the longer people live in poverty the more their social fabric changes. for instance we can see that when people have been poor for a longer period of time there are fewer contacts who are rich in resources in their close social network. and that's that. cooking with friends is a free weekly event today over 30 local residents are taking part.

time. student and single mom jennifer can help no feel she's in good company here. thank you and again it's really a question of money i don't get any student grants or any other financial aid from the state i have to and the money myself and with 2 children it's not that easy to meet people to date or anything like that. and here i can come into contact with all kinds of people and bring much child along oh that's a huge help to her and then take us as i think you know possible. creating meeting places and letting everyone participate fully in society are important for combating social isolation and loneliness. the swiss town of talk isn't one of the world's richest countries but even prosperity can't always keep loneliness at bay.

my own woman tyler is 77 years old and lives alone. a man esteemed that you're sad and it makes you tired. thank you think what do i do now. and withdraw a little bit if i need to cut it she says that it's just awful to feel so lonely and so i had someone just. minus a partner died 2 years ago they lived together for 21 years and she nursed him right to the end. after his death my own health began to decline as more time for a fight but you just have to go on. and there are days that go really well where you're happy. so you can't understand when suddenly the sadness hits you. when you're so alone and there's no one around to talk to and

it's not easy but if. dentists' and it's trying for hard. ron paul at least sometimes you don't want to go out anymore you're just blocked somehow they had cared and. i'm somehow to my loneliness in old age is particularly challenging i think because especially among the very elderly loneliness has very specific causes that are almost impossible to combat for example impaired health that simply age related or the loss of a close relative. those can't be easily replaced you can just tell someone and find a new spouse and the well again. my used to be well connected in her neighborhood she also met her former partner here. but the older people went away and younger ones came for 4 people used to have time for

a chat but that happens less these days as i mean they're. the ones provincial town of talk is now a booming business location that attracts ex-pats from all around the world. was on a fast bent who was born and spells out the consequences i think you get out of here and soon it's evident how many single households we have how many ex-pats who are here for a few months or years and then disappear eventually people have less and less contact with one another. the family unit is in decline and fall off if we keep building family homes which are then occupied by singles. it's problematic when we see neighborhoods going to pieces and the resulting lack of solidarity. it was on a fast bend is co-founder of the kiss foundation short for keep it small and simple

. since 2016 its team has been establishing new neighborhood networks and soup to prevent social isolation only our idea is to strengthen social cohesion too quickly i say quickly in quotation marks to quickly get people connected so that they can support one another this is the basically they take responsibility on their own strength and solidarity that's what's most important to us he said. kiss helps neighbors help one another with car rides shopping or going out on walks no money changes hands instead but souk networks 200 members document the time spent it's then credited to their time account. so they can seek help in return or save up credit for later. the biggest demand is for conversation 1960 hours were booked last year alone. help with everyday activities was next but

1917 hours. has changed my as life. through it she meant you to fisher who's been paying my regular visits for a year now. where you are. going to make the money that would then go out. and if you would it is a lawyer who lives nearby today she's helping my attend her garden something she can't do want to her own. regular interaction has been shown to increase people's life satisfaction kiss member unit fisher profits to. oh yes molly steamer you months that i 1st time someone from kiss is always on hand they introduce the people and see if they're a good match. i hope that we would get along. but when i saw her i knew right away that she was right for me. and so we found one another.

she's a wonderful woman who always helps me. even . knowing that their help or is being compensated with a time credit makes it easier for some to accept assistance if. they don't feel like they're accepting charity. this kid and say here is if it gives both of us a sense of security i can go away on holiday knowing someone's looking after my garden someone who knows about gardening as you can see. and in turn she knows that if something's up she can call me on the roof and that is so reassuring isnt it. today you did has added another hour to her time account it could be an investment that will pay off in the future when she herself might be in need of companionship or practical help. now. given that the project

yeah yeah. at the university of casa sociologist yarnell shaw been conducts lectures and research on social isolation and friendship. now and then he enjoys being on his own and having time to think but being alone by choice is not the same as being lonely. at a mall in the sense of taking time out and focusing on yourself are ways in which you also test the boundaries of being human and since many signs are hostages that in a way being alone is a very particular and in the modern day also highly prized life experience and i'm certain that it's a specifically human one would you want encounter any other way. and this withdrawal is actually a unique opportunity to learn something about yourself so you can view it positively too tough on ones or qualities that. still

few people can stand being alone for too long after a certain time the desire for contact and interaction becomes overpowering. experts call this impulse to seek the company of others the real affiliation motive . mentions it's had a visa in place in the us social creatures which ultimately means that we as a group need it others to survive think about the stone age alone as didn't get phone lines and according to this theory the feeling of loneliness evolved as a warning signal so that when we were 11 and missing our group when we no longer feel part of it we suffered. that's what we sure are and that makes us try to rejoin now try stalked i'm not so sure it does have. the biology of loneliness is also being probed in southern germany. here near xylem in

play constance 200 barbary apes live on 20 hectares of woodland in groups of up to 40 animals. behavioral ecologist like nadine miller kline hope their research on these primates will provide insights into human evolution and that we can't really look at whether animals are lonely because that's subjective what we can look at is social isolation and integration and asks how do they influence their health. barbary apes have very differentiated social relationships the males tend to forge close alliance of similar human friendships those who don't make enough ties remain on the groups fringes. and you always choose one animal to be your focal subject and then collect data for certain amount of time once you've gathered the data you can see how many partners you animal interacted with how many it's groomed and how many partners it came into contact.

from that you can draw conclusions about the animals relationship structure as. well connected males are more successful in the fight to climb the social ladder they also make. when it's in the palms that land lots of aggression it has like now during mating season and animals have a lot of aggressive interaction that can be stressful but the animals who have strong connections experience less stress the animals who have few strong connections and are bit isolated are far more affected by the stressful situation that i thought is a stress because it's one few female. she tests for the presence of the stress hormone cortisol in the animal species. apes release cortisol when they feel threatened as a human. this response triggers our emergency fight or flight response. that boosts our blood pressure blood sugar level and circulatory system. our immune

systems and digestion are dialed down. chronically lonely people become chronically stressed which can seriously impact their health. the risk of having a heart attack rises by 29 percent a stroke by 32 percent and the likelihood of dying prematurely by 30 percent. so chronic loneliness reduces life expectancy as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. having high blood pressure. or being obese. in the u.k. the british red cross says loneliness has reached epidemic levels here over 9000000 people for almost one 5th of the population have said they are always often lonely . and 2018 the government appointed a loneliness minister. tracey crouch pursues

a strategy called social prescribing. we find out how it works and from the southwest of england. and from in the mendip district in somerset has just 28000 residents but it boasts an extraordinary health services network run by doctors and dedicated locals. today a few of them are paying a visit to the men's shed. it's a workshop designed to combat social isolation. men often find it harder to admit they're lonely than women. patrick abraham started the project 2 years ago. if you put 12 men over 65 in

a room and said talk to each other about your life your relationships your health and your aspirations 6 will leave the room immediately and the other 6 will sit around the walls and say nothing if you throw a broken little mother in there and say hey guys fix that within 2 hours that will know who knows what other is a skills they have who they are and then names and everything else. the longer people are socially isolated the tougher it is for them to reintegrate that's how it was for even williams after a long stint living in australia he returned to frome 2 years ago. although his sister lives here he's had trouble meeting people in my file so i'm a bit on the you know like a group of people when you're on the at saudi government the effort to step in and we'll show you 1st really seen sister found out about the men shed on the internet through the health connections network and urged him to go there. one came down and

open the door. for the body looks like the usual puppy know he was open to all who came the neighbor looked at you through the 0 one word and even put it there were said coming from and you know we have a laugh and a joke and then when we talk about it talk about things in general we know that we can fix breakfast and 3 minutes early and a lot all the stuff you know once a week gives us something. for aim for to come you know you have got to calm you come because you want to and because you want to meet people. today julie carey downs is also visiting the men's shed she works for health connections mendham and has an overview of all the networks initiatives it's her job to maintain and expand the network in the energy industry. she asks if the shed could open in the evenings to so younger men could come i think for a few people who are working with the media and still to come in because it's like

once they finished but they quite isostacy they it if they if they feel good i think yes it's just nice you have a guy who's 66 so i stopped it might you cases because that way my aunt julie culture self the health connector that's because she connects doctors and patients with the many public and private outreach programs for people and from. the community itself of to feel good all the stuff that they not be able. told walk to to move west to find things that actually part of it and they feel like i know that i once people have found they tend to. sort of join in things i've got more. here. 6 years ago a doctor at this medical practice declared war on the lineas. local dr helen kingston realised many of her patients were suffering from social

isolation. and so was their health. to this community it matters to me what happens here and i know my patients very well i've been here for over 20 years so when you see individuals that you've got to know very well and see them struggling it's a human instinct to want to try and turn things around and make a situation response to those things than just the medical ones. over the years helen kingston observed better around 70 percent of her appointments weren't just about physical complaints but she lacked the resources to help these patients. very much. then in 2013 she finally got the resources to make a change she built up a team of people whose 1st task was to gather info on all the services and assistance available to the people and from everything from choir rehearsals to

debt counseling and self-help groups. now when doctors are talking to their patients they have the info with their fingertips and can offer advice. gay dia is known as social prescribing. patients needing more support to refer to a health connector like julie carey downs what i like about it is it's quite a holistic approach that you're asking people about their health and well being without giving up clinical or medical and it's supporting them to become more in control of their own health and wellbeing in a more resilient. kingston's team instead break the vicious circle of social isolation and illness in many cases they succeed people end up in crisis less often they end up in hospital less often and as a result of that those very expensive emergency admissions that are using up so much results within the n.h.s.

have reduced. one study found that the number of unplanned hospital admissions and from fell by 14 percent. in the surrounding areas admissions rose by 28.5 percent during the same period. the project has successfully tackled a serious problem and some kind of hacked learning is has serious health implications and that's why it's so important to combat social isolation to learning this is problematic when it becomes chronic when it occurs for long periods in such cases loneliness can lead to illness we know that loneliness is associated with a whole range of physical complaints including cardiovascular problems obesity and possibly dementia. there are numerous studies which show that lonely people even die. in the mentions of a forest album. right

and cancer but. they know they're not. just yet. evelyn cohen moved from from london to be near her family to live with her daughter and son and. she lost her husband 31 years ago so thinks ago we were at the moment i guess is that anything else you know i don't think so i quite. i didn't think i'd live as long as i have. i'm 99 i would hide if i did turn next september i should be a 100. i used to have loads and loads of friends and you know i'm the only one left the whole. role of the rest of got. a year ago evelyn suffered a severe blow when her only daughter died from cancer at the age of 73. evelyn

withdrew but she didn't want to burden her son in law and grandchildren with her grief meanwhile her health steadily deteriorated. you don't know what is happening and why it is happening you know when. you don't know if you can cope or know but it's a case of got to admit. doctors were concerned so health connector contacted her and now visits regularly. evelyn's condition has gradually improved. somebody that is what you call neutral more or less you know when they can sort out. if you can talk can you can that the tears roll down him and you know do the relay and they make you feel much better yeah it was like

a lifeline really and it's everything that you want to ask me at the moment is a sign you think. increasingly. of how much of. that yeah ok yeah. nice to fly don't take it. julie has one more point made today a training course at a high school in front. of she wants to know if loneliness is an issue for the pupils. i'm cheveley i'm from have connections made 1st of all i've got a brief power point but i'm going to get you to do some work while. these young people are in their final year of high school. so julie hopes to convince them to

become volunteer community connectors. the idea is how do we get everybody out to the community to know about our website know that we have based in the medical practices to support people and also get them to let us know where the gaps are a mass where community connect is come in and what you're going to be doing is signpost and you're not going to take in anybody's information you're not going to become slaves you've not taken on anything like that you're just going to tell people about where they can go to find out about groups and services. during. its but 1st they need to understand what influences health and wellbeing. the next week on these social media social media but i think in part to everyone in the right places it's always you've always got you figured out you for with scott people who are spaced way

better than you so you can really damage your self image and your self-worth in fact a lot of young people feel isolated and lonely and i think that is the area that we are trying to lock up set in groups for come the new year. but sometimes social media can help young people make friends. christiane is heading for home board city center. he hopes to help make some contacts there to the friendship 25 friends. tonight there's a gathering where people will eat burgers and play billiards. with total strangers . and some elders are registering is one thing going is another you have an accounting to go but you must set off and dare try and. but even in the real world social media has a big influence. it doesn't know that some people post their entire lives on

instagram you think how awesome they're doing great every day they're on vacation or doing core stuff but it depends whether you like to influence you or not if you say ok i'm jealous or if you view things rationally and say it's too good to be true. to date there's little reliable data on how social media is changing our relationships but a u.s. study found that people who use social media for more than 2 hours a day were twice as likely to feel lonely as people who used it for less than 30 minutes per day. in my is the sure the problem with most of the studies on this topic is that we can't tell what's cause and what's effect does social media make people oduya or do lonely people tend to use social media because that has fewer contacts offline having a contact offline that's kind of the studies can't answer that question in principle

you can say that social media can enrich and expand social relationships fast when they start to replace offline relationships when people only chat online and don't have any personal contact in my home and then it becomes problematic because initial contact it's pretty much. the group is arranged to meet in front of the burger restaurant. point. of view they only got $25.00. down there with us and you. have everything. from the. street so i was like i i promise i'll take one of the founders of the friendship app organize this event. 20 participants have registered but just 8 have shown up this time and i think it's really good it was just the start of on the defender is on. the

apps target audiences 25 to 35 year olds it attracts people who've just moved here like christiane and those who just want to expand their circle of friends. help sneak out life make use of what is indefensible is here to expand to get seduced by some of. them and this isn't just because i got stuck and i start this is after finding friends to play sports with over an online platform rahman i tell you realize there was a real need for a friendship. it was not terribly sexy to say you're using a friendship opposite but this is a real problem that many people have. we organize group gatherings and try to make them as not real as possible so that removes some of the shame the protection of being in a group is also an important factor it's all good people like coming to such events because they don't make them feel strange. the group has reserved 2 tables at the

billiards club next door. some of the guys tell us why they're here. stephanie says just following which is tough for me i know a little german. but when you come to a city where you don't know anyone nights like this are quite helpful and it's almost a language your my long term relationship ended and through that i lost all my friends and getting to know folks in a big city is tough so the ups being good for that so far. have the sunlight and that's it i told people about it when they asked what are you doing on the weekend i said playing billiards and in burgers who with total strangers people don't think that's strange these days lots of things are done on line it's not the 1st time it's like meeting up with 10 or 20 complete strangers at 1st you have to make small talk but once the conversation flows it is better to nice been quite nice.

but will real friendships emerge from this 1st meeting. at the university of casa young children in his research group or working on friendship networks. specialist the sociologist knows that for around 10 percent of germans friends are more important than family. when i can to a certain degree friends can qualify as a substitute family. from what we've seen in studies that applies across the board . so all the forms of practical support you need in life can generally be provided by friends childcare helping build you up again after emotionally tough phases of life. where i see major difficulties is in the area of caregiving personal hygiene washing calming us everything that goes into basic day care the stats show that

friends hardly ever do this. for his research young children analyze of lots of statistics but he also conducts many biographical studies. today he's interviewing a subject. yeah. and the student narcissa of the ya gets has volunteered to take part in a detailed biographical analysis. and we're doing a study on appeals in people's lives and asking how you perceive them specifically how they change your social network in the end what if and not one such as this basically there are a few constants in my life. my family. and the 2 or 3 friends i've had since grade school with. the last major of people in narcissus life occurred a year ago she and her then boyfriend split up. the end of

a relationship is one of the biggest risk factors for loneliness. and that's my circle of friends has actually changed best and apart from my best friend that is she's almost like family is so. far as a so she's friends with your mom and sister too yeah yeah you could say that yes it's a unified what's interesting about this case is that the most stable relationships are those that are also connected to family with so the friendships which survive the breakup were those where there were also relationships to family members a friend from her neighborhood a close friend had other contacts in the neighborhood and through them her network was refilled or healed guy and. but even family structures can break down reducing the number of people that someone can turn to in an emergency. calls this a shortage of connective resources. there are definitely situations where it becomes clear that there's no longer anyone there or just one or 2 people. here the

discussion revolves around how they deal with that how do they bear such a phase of extreme social isolation without anyone to support them and then we go into details again that and said i. don't people who suffer from chronic loneliness often require psychological help. i know consequence for lines on kuyt paradoxically one of the consequences of loneliness is that people withdrawals so it's incredibly tough to reach lonely people because by definition they're not easily reachable. and one of the symptoms of loneliness is not being able to go and seek out other people and that's precisely the problem for many programs or measures designed to tackle loneliness they aren't able to get through to the people they're actually trying to reach. one. mid

january humble. he says had some luck in finding a friend. thinking they're going. at an event organized through the friendship map he met terrence they hit it off right away. and bite off an emotion i've always been this way i never had tons of friends just a couple really good ones and i'd count terrence as one of them. told him off point of this is how it's all going to come to the friendships i want to feel i can trust someone confide in them and. the sauce. but also that you can rely on one of the other one out of the gear to bring the things that are on your mind. that might make it easier for the other person to do the same kind of light of life stuff. finding

a friend over social media for christiane the gamble has paid off. though he's not likely to forget the pain of loneliness for a long while to come. i think that this means you can find something positive in everything positive. in my case i'd say it's how you only know the value of friendship when you no longer feel so alone as well and if you do it then if you are nice it is and how bad you felt before what you only notice that afterwards. being alone is part of being human to avoid becoming lonely it helps to take action early on and build up a social network. we can all contribute but it takes much more than that here if we as a society speak out and stress that learning this is something normal something many people feel that would go a long way to helping those affected of course that wouldn't solve the problem but it might encourage us to talk about it

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a deadly sin. and the whim of nature. good motivates us now from stood above greed. to see shows a good. mood drives the budget cuts the danger has been one big knock i've come to oppose capitalism because i see the harm is done to the world was off the rails because. we've literally run the risk of being the 1st form of water to be responsible for our next question. while. we go in search of a. green starts may 21st fall on t.w. .

played. the bass player. this is d w news live from berlin and u.s. president donald trump issues that ultimatum to the w.h.o. he threatens to freeze funding for the organization permanently if he doesn't see improvements within 30 days specifically he accuses the global health body of favoritism toward china what does this mean for global efforts to combat the coronavirus.