Fighting loneliness with soup ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute

English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil and I'm Beth.

What's up Beth? You look a little sad.

Well, recently, I've been spending lots of time with my cat and house plants,

if you know what I mean. I'm feeling a bit lonely.

It might help to know that you're not the only one feeling lonely.

Loneliness has been called the 'modern epidemic'.

Although millions of us live together in towns and cities,

more and more people report feeling lonely and unconnected to those

they live close to.

Loneliness can affect anyone.

And while everyone's experience of loneliness is different,

its effects can be serious. Research has shown that loneliness puts people

at greater risk of many health issues,

including dementia and heart disease.

So, how can loneliness, be fixed? In this programme,

we'll be hearing about one project in the Netherlands, aiming to do just that.

And as usual,

we will be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But first, I have a question for you, Beth. Here in the UK,

an organisation called the 'Campaign to End Loneliness'

has been offering advice and support since 2011.

So, according to the Campaign,

what proportion of British adults report feeling lonely at least some

of the time? Is it a) 29%, b) 39% or c) 49%

I will guess it's 39%.

OK, Beth, I'll reveal the answer later in the programme.

Feeling lonely is not necessarily the same as being alone.

Some people can happily spend lots of time on their own,

while others may be surrounded by people, but still feel disconnected.

So, what do we mean, when we say we feel lonely.

Here's Myra Anubi, presenter of BBC

World Service Programme,

'People Fixing The World',

explaining what loneliness means for her:

It's a feeling when you crave people's company and you find it hard to connect

or maybe you just feel left out with no one to turn to. Now, feeling lonely

isn't just uncomfortable, when it's experienced over time,