The world’s leading medical authorities—including the World Health Organization, US Surgeon General, and UK National Health Service—are now in consensus that levels of loneliness and social isolation have increased to unprecedented levels and that the challenges comprise a grave public health threat.

But there’s still uncertainty about a basic question: What’s driving the crisis?

Reports including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s advisory on loneliness and social isolation point to a range of factors including the rise of constant digital connectivity, the widespread loss of face-to-face connection, a decline of community institutions like churches and sports clubs, and an increasingly individualistic culture driven by values like social media status-seeking. All these factors are contributing to the problem.

But one of the biggest issues driving loneliness and social isolation is perhaps the simplest.

We’re stressed out.

Prominent research organizations, including Gallup, have found that levels of stress and worry have reached unprecedented levels in recent years.

And stress is antithetical to belonging.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of a book that changed the way society sees the problem of stress. Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers—a groundbreaking examination by Stanford neuroscientist and primatologist Robert Sapolsky—comprehensively documented how stress isn’t just an unpleasant emotional state or a cause of high blood pressure. It’s a driver of a........

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