[김장현의 테크와 사람] 〈63〉 How to live healthily as a single person’s home

[김장현의 테크와 사람] 〈63〉 How to live healthily as a single person’s home

In Korea, mental health problems are also highlighted due to the rapid increase in the number of single-person households In the United States, the number of single-person households is said to have increased by 4.7 million between 2012 and 2022, reaching 37.9 million. According to a research report published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in February, as of 2021, 16% of US adults live in single-person households, and 6.4% of them report depression, of which 6.4% Among adults, only 4.1% answered that they felt depressed. While only 3.2% of men and 4.9% of women living in multi-person households reported depression, 6.3% of men and 6.6% of women living in households with one person that they were depressed. Depression appears to be higher when adults over 30 live in a single-person household, while single-person households do not affect those aged 18 to 29. When household income below the federal poverty level, depression was significantly higher than other income groups, and single-person households who responded indicated that they received social and emotional support from those about round them depression lower than those who didn’t.

A recent study published in Nature Human Behavior, a sister journal of Nature, found that loneliness in people increases the risk of more than 30 separate diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes type 2, obesity, chronic liver disease, chronic kidney disease, and most neurological diseases. diseases It has been reported that there is a special relationship with . In particular, it has been reported to be associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, what was found here was ‘association’ and not ‘causation’. As a result of the discovery of the causal relationship between genetic predispositions and diseases considered to be related to loneliness, the possible cause of loneliness was seen in hypothyroidism, asthma, pregnancy -psychiatry, drug abuse, sleep apnea, hearing loss, etc., but not in these areas. 20 diseases left. Instead, the link between loneliness and disease could be explained by socioeconomic factors that cause depression, depressive symptoms, comorbidities, and complications.

In short, the causal link that loneliness directly causes depression or leads to various diseases has not been found or shown in some cases. This means that if you are willing to manage your own health and balance your life through various social activities, you will overcome the psychological and physical problems that loneliness can cause.

This is exactly where the potential for a healthy life opens up with digital technology. Online mental health platform, social community application (app), mindfulness and meditation app, virtual reality (VR)-based relaxation and treatment program, chatbot that understands and cares for human emotions, wearable health monitoring, digital social game, Electronic books and audio books, music streaming service that considers the user’s emotional state, light control app based on biological rhythm, companion robot that allows conversation and communication, club books, volunteer community platform, diet management app, exercise coaching app, regular life Notification apps for single person families and We have several solutions for the lonely at our fingertips.

If you live in a single person household, start today by joining a community that has different interests or issues or join a book club. Instead of a traditional chat service that only displays text on the screen, how about using VR technology to communicate with other people as if you were meeting them in person? There are also many free apps that provide helpful guidance on meditation or breathing techniques.

Kim Jang-hyun, Professor at Sungkyunkwan University