John Cacioppo suggests that chronic loneliness belongs among health risk factors such as smoking, obesity or lack of exercise.
Links:
[1] http://news.uchicago.edu/tag/people/john-cacioppo
[2] http://news.uchicago.edu/tag/source/uchicago-creative
[3] http://news.uchicago.edu/taxonomy/term/104
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[7] http://news.uchicago.edu/taxonomy/term/380
[8] http://news.uchicago.edu/taxonomy/term/69
[9] http://news.uchicago.edu/taxonomy/term/70
[10] http://news.uchicago.edu/taxonomy/term/58
[11] http://news.uchicago.edu/taxonomy/term/147
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[14] http://news.uchicago.edu/taxonomy/term/62
[15] http://news.uchicago.edu/taxonomy/term/18055
[16] http://news.uchicago.edu/tag/genre/interview