Jamie Shapiro

A psychologist studying the effects of relationships on mental health has said that ‘loneliness is an epidemic’ after findings showed single people are at greater risk of physical illnesses including heart disease.

Mark Cox from De Montfort University Psychology department made the statement in response to a study carried out on Valentine’s Day, which saw single people talking about how the day made them feel.

The study then continued to find medical records of single people and those in relationships and found as a percentage, single people had a greater chance of developing degenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s as well as chronic conditions such as heart disease and obesity.

The video shows snippets of the interview in which he discussed the findings.