🎧 Episode 1 – Loneliness: The Silent Public Health Crisis - Part 1 Podcast: Secrets of Survival (S.O.S.) Hosted by Dr. Susan Rashid Episode Summary: In this opening episode of Secrets of Survival (S.O.S.), Dr. Susan Rashid examines one of the most urgent and overlooked public health challenges of our time: loneliness. Far more than an emotion, loneliness is now understood as a biological condition that disrupts nearly every system of the human body. Dr. Rashid explores the science of loneliness—how chronic isolation raises cortisol levels, weakens the immune system, accelerates inflammation, shortens telomeres, and increases the risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke, and early death. Through clear and compassionate narration, she explains why loneliness is not simply sadness, but a full-body stress response that leaves measurable traces in our physiology. In the second half of Part 1, Dr. Rashid turns to the evolutionary roots of connection, asking why human beings are wired to belong. Drawing from neuroscience, anthropology, and psychology, she traces how early survival depended on cooperation and social bonds, and why separation still registers in the brain as danger. Loneliness, she explains, evolved as a survival alarm—a signal to restore belonging—but in the modern world, that alarm often goes unanswered. Part 1 of this three-part series sets the scientific and evolutionary foundation for understanding loneliness as a public health epidemic—one that is as lethal as smoking or obesity, and as universal as the need for air, food, and shelter. Coming Next: Stay tuned for Part 2, where Dr. Rashid explores The Global Faces of Loneliness—from children to elders across the globe.