Instant Genius Podcast: How loneliness can affect your health, and what you can do to combat it, with Prof Andrea Wigfield

Instant Genius is a bite-sized masterclass in podcast form. And in this episode, we explore overcoming loneliness.

A recent study found that nearly 50 per cent of adults in the UK reported having feelings of loneliness, at least occasionally. It’s a fairly shocking stat, but what effect is this having on our collective health?

In this episode, we catch up with Prof Andrea Wigfield, director of the Centre for Loneliness Studies at Sheffield Hallam University. She tells about the different types of loneliness we can feel, the risks it poses to our mental and physical health and what we can do to limit its impact.

FindInstant Geniuson your preferred podcast platform here:instantgenius.podlink.to/Podcast

Listen to more episodes of Instant Genius:

• The Mysteries of the Octopus, with Prof David Scheel
• Why touch is our most misunderstood sense, with Prof Michael Banissy
• Allergies, with Theresa Macphail
• Why a four-day workweek could make you more productive, with Alex Pang
• The intriguing science of phages, with Tom Ireland
• The fascinating science of fermentation, with Prof Andrea Sella