To combat loneliness, the study suggests doing so for 10 minutes

Talking to someone on the phone for 10 minutes several times a week - if you control the conversation - can reduce feelings of loneliness, a new study has found.

Half of the 240 study participants received phone calls from volunteers over the course of a month and reported feeling an average of 20% less lonely, according to the study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, a monthly peer-reviewed journal published by the American Medical Association.

The volunteers were initially trained in empathic communication skills, which included active listening and asking questions about what their subject was talking about, said lead author of the study Maninder "Mini" Kahlon, associate professor of population health and executive director of Factor Health at the University of Texas School of Medicine.

The first week, volunteers phoned participants five days during the week, a time that participants said felt better. Participants talked about a variety of topics including their daily lives and asked about the lives of their volunteers. The study noted that there was a reduction in anxiety and depression.

This study is promising and can help how people translate evidence into practice, said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University in Utah, who was not involved in the study.

If you feel lonely, Kahlon recommended that you contact someone in the family or circle of friends. It can be difficult because in reality, the person you are calling should have an interest in you.

She suggested that you turn to those you believe will be "non-judgmental and really interested in hearing from you."

Kahlon's goal is to continue testing this program method and implementing it on a larger scale so that more people can benefit from the findings.

Sources: CNN, UT Research Showcase