The loneliness usually skilled by older individuals in our society has a destructive impact on their bodily well being, in keeping with researchers from Amsterdam UMC and the University of Glasgow. Emiel Hoogendijk, epidemiologist at Amsterdam Public Health, analysed analysis outcomes from greater than 130 research and located that loneliness led to a rise in bodily frailty, which in flip will increase the danger of adversarial well being outcomes comparable to melancholy, falls and cognitive decline. These outcomes are revealed at the moment in The Lancet Healthy Longevity.

“Recently, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is more attention for the potential harmful effects of loneliness and social isolation on the health of older people. We wanted to see how far these effects went and saw that all kinds of reduced social functioning, such as loneliness, social isolation and lack of social support, were associated with physical decline in older adults,” says Hoogendijk.

Led by Peter Hanlon, medical analysis fellow on the University of Glasgow, together with researchers from Amsterdam UMC, Canada, Australia and Sweden, researchers analysed the connection between social functioning and bodily frailty in older adults. “Frailty refers to a lot of different forms of physical deterioration, such as weight loss, reduced walking speed and decrease in muscle strength. These can all then have an effect on, for example, how likely you are to fall,” says Hanlon.

Previous analysis has already indicated that frailty can result in a lower in social contact, “In some cases, physical vulnerability can also cause people to lose social contacts or become lonelier, for example because they become less mobile,” says Hoogendijk. This analysis reveals that this relationship may also be reversed, with a lower in social contact resulting in frailty.

Impaired social functioning can have dangerous results on well being, with the US Surgeon General claiming final 12 months that loneliness is simply as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. “We know that people with feelings of loneliness or with a lack of social contacts have a higher risk of, amongst others, depression and various chronic diseases. For example, a lack of social contact can have a direct effect on the immune system, but it can also have an indirect effect on health, for example through an unhealthier lifestyle. We want to do more research into this in the coming period,” says Hoogendijk.

Impaired social and bodily functioning usually happen on the similar time. “Older people who are physically vulnerable often also have to deal with a decline in both social and mental functioning. As we are caring for older adults, we need to pay attention to all of these aspects,” says Hanlon. He concludes: “Loneliness, for example, is not an easy problem to solve. However, there is more and more knowledge available about possible effective interventions, including activities that support older people to increase their social connections.”