JustCare

Tag: Loneliness

  • Adults use dining app to make new friends

    Adults use dining app to make new friends

    We hear often about all the lonely people. We also know that social engagement is one of the best things you can do for your health. A new app, Timeleft, connects you with other friend-seekers at a dinner table in hundreds of cities across the US, reports Hira Qureshi for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

    Whether you’re 30 or 70, live in Miami or New York City, like Thai food or plain old American, Timeleft matches you with a small group of strangers at a local restaurant.

    You can engage in conversation about whatever suits your fancy. Everything’s on the table. Your work, your favorite restaurants, why you used the app. It’s not about dating specifically, but rather a way to build a network of friends or simply have dinner companions.

    Timeleft has taken off since its founding in 2020 and is now in 275 cities. In Philadelphia, it sets up dinners for people each Wednesday based on a questionnaire they complete. On the day of the dinner, you learn a bit about your dinner mates, including where they are from, their work and their zodiac signs.

    Timeleft picks the restaurants based on their cost and Google ratings. After the dinner, if people hit it off, they can continue connecting through Whats App. For sure, it’s a way to meet people you likely never would have met otherwise, without the pressure of being on a date with them.

    Different strokes for different folks. Some people make new friends on sports teams or at clubs. And, some people are simply looking for company on a given evening. Whether you live in the city or you’re from out of town, you shouldn’t have to eat alone.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Why social health is as important as physical and mental health

    Why social health is as important as physical and mental health

    I’ve written a bunch about the value of a buddy or buddies to your overall health, as well as the health costs of social isolation. A new piece by Kasley Killam in The Guardian lays out why “social health” is worth paying attention to. In a few words, it is as important as food and water.

    Curiously social health remains underappreciated in the US. We tend to focus on exercise, eating right, avoiding alcohol and tobacco and getting a good night’s sleep as the best ways to stay healthy. No question that these activities all improve physical and mental health.

    But, social interactions take physical and mental health to a whole other level. We all need people to support us, whether in an emergency or when we’re having a bad day. We need time alone. and we need time with family and friends.

    Relationships–both friendships and romantic relationships–as well as simply hanging out with others can lengthen our lives and stave off chronic conditions. When we build relationships with others, we improve our social health. We enhance our self-worth.

    There’s been a bunch written of late on the health risks of loneliness. The US Surgeon General called it a public health emergency in 2017. But, there has been less written on the health benefits of relationships. And, the data suggest that Americans are increasingly less healthy socially.

    Since the mid-90’s, for example, 2o percent fewer Americans enjoy a cadre of 10 or more close friends. And in the last ten years, 20 percent fewer Americans participate in communities. No question that we are further isolated in the wake of Covid-19.

    One national survey found that around 50 percent of Americans felt that they had no close friends or family who understood them.

    While the data suggests that Americans are not doing well from a social health perspective, people in other countries are also not doing well on the social health front. One Gallup poll found that, all told, 330 million adults don’t speak with friends or family for weeks at a time. One in five adults around the world say they have no one to connect with if they need help.

    Without social connections, the data show that people’s likelihood of stroke increases by 32 percent, dementia likelihood is up 50 percent and premature death by 29 percent. But, 80 percent of people in the US and UK, who lack social relationships do not appreciate the severity of their situation for their health and well-being.

    Everyone needs connection and community, whether lonely or not. So, nourish your relationships, don’t ignore them or put them aside. For your health!!!

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Medicare Advantage plans are not addressing loneliness among their enrollees

    Medicare Advantage plans are not addressing loneliness among their enrollees

    Loneliness is prevalent amount older adults in Medicare Advantage plans, reports Alexa Mikhail for Fortune. Most older adults no longer work and have few outlets for social interaction. The government is not addressing their lack of social stimulation. Their Medicare Advantage plans, government health plans administered by corporate health insurers, which are paid to manage their enrollees’ health, should be helping to address their enrollees’ loneliness.

    A survey of 28,000 older adults in Medicare Advantage plans finds that more than half of them (three  in five) are lonely or extremely lonely. Family are often not near by. Friends are often not around. As a rule, their Medicare Advantage plans do not help them. Consequently, older adults who suffer from loneliness are at greater risk for a range of health issues, including dementia, depression and anxiety.

    What can isolated adults do in an emergency? One in five older adults have no one to turn to in an emergency. Two in five struggle to find social support. Medicare Advantage plans do not make it their business to foster social interaction among their enrollees, even though it’s an important way to promote their well-being.

    Many older adults struggle mentally and physically as a result of social isolation. They need help taking their medicines and remodeling their homes, but they can’t get help. They don’t have easy and safe access to a bathroom, shower, kitchen and bedroom. They can’t get to their doctors’ appointments. It’s not clear that any Medicare Advantage plans are helping to ensure these basic needs are met or even to minimize enrollees’ risk of falling, even though these corporate health plans are receiving some $140 billion in overpayments each year from the government.

    Half of older adults have annual incomes under $30,000 and deteriorating health. Loneliness means that they are as much as three times more likely to end up in an emergency room than people who have family or other social companions around to help.

    If Medicare Advantage plans were putting enrollees’ needs ahead of their profits, they would be promoting social engagement among their enrollees and otherwise spending money on their enrollees in meaningful ways.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Is medication an appropriate treatment for loneliness?

    Is medication an appropriate treatment for loneliness?

    Judith Garber writes for the Lown Institute about the overmedication of isolated older adults. Loneliness can have severe health consequences. But, treating loneliness with too many medicines has adverse effects and unclear benefits.

    Isolated older adults are more likely to suffer physical impairments. They are more likely to die prematurely. They are also more prone to overtreatment.

    Some isolated older adults experience depression. Others experience pain. Both of these conditions can lead doctors to prescribe them medicines even though evidence is scarce that the medicines treat their loneliness. And, these medicines can have harmful side effects.

    One recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that doctors tend to prescribe benzodiazepines to older adults who feel lonely twice as often as they do to older adults who do not report being lonely, 11 percent v. 5 percent.

    Doctors also prescribe sedatives twice as often to people who report being lonely than to people who are not lonely, 20 percent v. 9 percent. And, doctors prescribe antidepressants nearly twice as often to people who are lonely than people who are not lonely, 27 percent v. 14 percent.

    Doctors are more likely to prescribe older adults who are moderately or highly lonely pain relievers, sedatives and antidepressants. They are also more likely to prescribe them multiple prescription drugs. The dangerous side effects of these prescription drugs can actually make it harder for older adults to be socially engaged.

    Older adults on benzodiazepines and antidepressants are more likely to experience cognitive impairments. They also face a greater likelihood of falling. If they take too much aspirin or ibuprofen, they face a greater likelihood of kidney and heart failure, ulcers and bleeding.

    The best way to improve your health is to have a buddy or buddies. Doctors should be arranging for patients who are lonely to be more socially active. “Social prescribing” would take a bit more time than writing a prescription. It could involve difficult discussions between patients and doctors. But, isn’t that the doctor’s role?

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: Minimizing the health risks of isolation

    Coronavirus: Minimizing the health risks of isolation

    Paula Span reports for The New York Times on efforts to minimize the risks of isolation for older adults during this coronavirus pandemic. It’s not normal for most people to spend so much time apart from other people. For older adults, in particular, social isolation can take a huge toll.

    As the National Academies of Sciences has reported, social isolation and loneliness are large public health risks, promoting heart disease, stroke and dementia and other poor health outcomes.The National Academies found that about one in three older adults experienced social isolation before the novel coronavirus pandemic. A study published in JAMA in 2012 found that more than four in ten older adults experienced loneliness. Since the pandemic, it’s likely that a far higher proportion of older people are experiencing social isolation and loneliness.

    It’s important to stay active however makes you happy, while keeping safe. Some older adults living at home are cooking for the first time in decades. And, many older adults who are getting Meals on Wheels benefit from a regular relationship with the person delivering the food, from a distance.

    Senior centers, YMCA’s and other organizations serving older populations are offering stay-at-home activities for their older adult members. Among other things, staff reach out to older members by phone on a regular basis. For members who use the computer, some offer concerts and lectures and classes on Zoom, as well as group conference calls.

    Two PACE programs–programs that provide all-inclusive care for the elderly–are loaning tablets to their members so that they can do email and video chats.

    Unfortunately, according to Pew Research, one-third of older adults are not able to use computer technology on their own. Many also do not have internet access.

    Whatever you do, move around as much as possible during the day. Don’t sit for too long if you can avoid it. Keep active. If you have access to stairs, climb them. Physical activity benefits your mind and body.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • More than any other generation, baby boomers aging alone and lonely

    More than any other generation, baby boomers aging alone and lonely

    Whatever your age, having a buddy or buddies does wonders for your social, emotional and physical health. The older you are, the more important it can be to have buddies, though it is often harder to have even a single buddy. The Wall Street Journal reports that older baby boomers are, more than ever before, aging alone and lonely.

    Not only does social isolation and loneliness take a toll on individuals, making people’s retirement challenging, it is a threat to the public health. Today, more than 25 percent of boomers never married or are divorced. About 8 million Americans, 9 percent of people 50 and older, are without a partner or child. And, that number is only expected to increase.

    The physical toll loneliness takes on older adults is equivalent to smoking as many as 15 cigarettes a day or drinking six cocktails, beers or glasses of wine a day. Loneliness shortens people’s lifespans. It is worse for your health than being overweight or not exercising.

    Loneliness in older adults imposes a large cost on the federal government. It costs Medicare nearly $7 billion a year, according to a 2017 AARP study, in partnership with Harvard and Stanford. Loneliness leads to more time hospitalized and in nursing homes.

    To address loneliness, study authors propose the need for a tool to screen older adults for social isolation and the testing of interventions that recognize cultural, socio-economic, mental and functional differences among people. They recommend that, once developed, the tool be used in Welcome to Medicare and Medicare annual wellness visits.

    Recognizing the challenges of social isolation, Great Britain recently appointed a minister of loneliness. The Trump Administration is focused on expanding faith-based partnerships.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Having good friends promotes better health, longer life

    Having good friends promotes better health, longer life

    A meta-analysis in PLOS Medicine reveals that having good friends promotes better health, longer life. Yet, over the last several generations we have become more socially isolated, increasingly less likely to have many strong social relationships. Different generations of families no longer tend to live together or even near each other. Moreover, a larger number of people are putting off marriage and children and many more people are living alone.

    The study looked at how different types of social relationships can lower a person’s risk of death.  It analyzed 148 studies, including 308,849 people, and found that people with good social relationships had a 50 percent higher chance of living than people who lacked those relationships. It further found that the chance of survival increased regardless of age, gender, initial health status, reason for death and length of the study period.

    The findings show that lack of social relationships can have as great an effect on risk of early death as smoking. Indeed, poor or few social relationships can have a greater bearing on likelihood of premature death than lack of exercise and obesity. Like loneliness and social isolation, negative social relationships are associated with a higher likelihood of early death.

    A separate 2016 study in Heart found a link between social isolation and heart disease and stroke. It finds that loneliness is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Another study we reported on Just Care suggested that if you want to improve your heart health, you should get married!

    Some believe that social relationships influence people cognitively, emotionally, behaviorally and biologically even when one person in a social relationship has no explicit intent to support another. For example, if a friend or partner models healthy behaviors, you are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors. One study we wrote about on Just Care, found that a person could help his or her spouse by exercising because it models healthy behavior.  Social relationships also help give people’s lives meaning and purpose.

    There is also evidence that suggests social relationships can improve patient care, reduce the length of a hospital stay, raise the likelihood of a person complying with his or her medical regimens. The findings suggest that doctors and other health care providers should recommend more and better social connections to their patients. Some believe that simply strengthening existing positive family relationships through more frequent interactions could be helpful.

    Another meta-analysis reported in Sage finds that perceived social isolation is as much associated with higher risk of early death as actual social isolation.

    Here’s more from Just Care: