TRAIT2
Are you lonely? Not 'alone' but lonely. There is a difference For instance, you can be married with children at home and still feel lonely. Loneliness occurs not only when your social life is less active than you'd like but also when you don't get the level of intimacy you need from the relationships you do have.
Loneliness is not just a state of mind. Studies find that feeling lonely significantly increases your risk of heart disease and depression and that lonely people are more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease as those with stronger social connections. In fact, loneliness is as threatening to your overall health as obesity.
Researchers from University College London discovered one reason: in a study of 240 people aged 47-59, women with higher loneliness scores had significantly greater blood-pressure reactions to acute mental stress. And in response to stress, both men and women who were lonely had higher levels of fibrinogen, a protein involved in blood clotting. The more fibrinogen, the greater the risk of heart attack or stroke.
In another study, older adults who reported feelings of loneliness had higher blood pressure than those who didn't. Loneliness accounted for as much as a 30mmHg increase isn systolic pressure ( the top number), equivalent to the difference between normal and high blood pressure. The researchers suggest that reducing loneliness among older people could be as beneficial to health as losing excess weight or taking regular exercise.
The good news is that reaching out to make new social connections can indeed improve both feelings of loneliness and physical health. In a remarkable experiment ins Sweden, half of the residents in an apartment building for elderly people were invited to participate in a programme of social activity involving interest groups in topics such as botany, art, history, music, song and local interest, along with outrings picnics and visits to the theatre and opera.
Over six months these residents increased their social activities threefold, both inside and outside the planned activities - they were also more likely to get together for coffee, walks and shopping - and were only a third as likely as the non-invited residents to report feeling that their days were monotonous and boring. Those in the social group were also significantly more inclined to protest when things went wrong.
What's more, these emotional changes were parallelled by improvements in hormonal and metabolic status that suggested a reduced risk of conditions such as diabetes and osteoporosis and indicated less stress and depression. Even more incredible, the social group actually showed a slight increase in average height, whereas the controls shrunk a little.
Now, we admit that as you get older, it can become more difficult to make friends, especially if you're retired or work from home. It wasn't always this way. Remember when your children were little? You made friends at the park and the school and through parents' groups, football teams and Boy Scout troops. Everywhere you turned, someone else was dealing with the same issues you were and was happy to get together for coffee to thrash through solutions.
Fast-forward to today. The children are gone or nearly gone, and chances are life is more solitary, with fewer external activities than 20 years ago. Even stranger is when you find you're in a neighbourhood filled with families living life at a different place. All this can be overcome and if, you read on, we'll give you lots of ideas to add social connections to your life.
One thing is crucial to each of these ideas: the willingness to reach out. For some people, making that first phone call, enquiry or appearance is as tough a task as running a marathon. We understand,
Adding dog years to your life
Talk about great companionship! Dogs worship the very ground you walk on. They don't care if you snap at them when you're in a bad mood or if you sit for hours saying nothing. But they do require that you get out of bed and walk them, at the very least. And that, studies find, is a very good thing for older people. When researchers looked at dog owners aged between 71 and 82, they found that those who walked their dogs were more likely to get 150 minutes of walking a week and to have faster walking speeds than those who didn't have dogs.
Other studies find significant health benefits in owning a dog (more so than owing a cat), including faster recovery from heart attacks, a greater ability to live independently and better overall well-being. If your living situation allows it, seriously consider adding a dog to your immediate family.
but there's no denying it: making new social connections requires reaching out. It takes courage, but when you acknowledge all your strengths, all your success and all that you have to offer, it gets much easier. Do what it takes to confirm your sense of self-worth and venture forth.
When you reach out of people, you will be astounded at the results. Yes, a majority will be too fearful to accept, and you will
Finding friends on the internet
Once, letter writing was common. Then it declined. Now it's back and better than ever in the form of emails and internet bulletin boards.
With the rise of the internet over the past decade, all the modern rules of communication have changed. On any given day of billions of email messages are flying around among friends, families, business associates and hobbyists all over the world. Whether you live in a remote village in the Shetland Islands or in a city centre, there are people out there who share your passions. You just have to find them.
In the past few years, older people have been the fastest-growing group of internet users. In fact, a quarter of all British internet users are now over 50, and people over 65 are the most active users, spending an average of 42 yours online every month. So make the effort to get connected and join in, whether it's for news, shopping, information, hobbies, keeping in touch with friends and family or socialising. If you don't have a computer, pop into your local library, where you can get help learning to use one if necessary. The more time you spend using the internet, studies find, the greater your social network. Many older people find that their lives has been transformed by a few hours a day online.
For the perfect place to start your search for information and like-minded communities, try the groups section on http://uk.yahoo.com. Often, there's a group's heading on a site's first page. Click there and enter your area of interest. Within minutes, you'll be off on an amazing journey through new communities and other similar websites. And so-called 'silver surfers' even have their own networking site, called Saga Zone, for people aged 50-plus (www.sagazone.co.uk).
Just as you would do at an airport or visiting a new major city, protect yourself when roaming online. Make sure your computer has protective software to prevent intruders. And never, ever publicly reveal personal information on the internet. Be constantly cautious and smart.
Are you lonely? Not 'alone' but lonely. There is a difference For instance, you can be married with children at home and still feel lonely. Loneliness occurs not only when your social life is less active than you'd like but also when you don't get the level of intimacy you need from the relationships you do have.
Loneliness is not just a state of mind. Studies find that feeling lonely significantly increases your risk of heart disease and depression and that lonely people are more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease as those with stronger social connections. In fact, loneliness is as threatening to your overall health as obesity.
Researchers from University College London discovered one reason: in a study of 240 people aged 47-59, women with higher loneliness scores had significantly greater blood-pressure reactions to acute mental stress. And in response to stress, both men and women who were lonely had higher levels of fibrinogen, a protein involved in blood clotting. The more fibrinogen, the greater the risk of heart attack or stroke.
In another study, older adults who reported feelings of loneliness had higher blood pressure than those who didn't. Loneliness accounted for as much as a 30mmHg increase isn systolic pressure ( the top number), equivalent to the difference between normal and high blood pressure. The researchers suggest that reducing loneliness among older people could be as beneficial to health as losing excess weight or taking regular exercise.
The good news is that reaching out to make new social connections can indeed improve both feelings of loneliness and physical health. In a remarkable experiment ins Sweden, half of the residents in an apartment building for elderly people were invited to participate in a programme of social activity involving interest groups in topics such as botany, art, history, music, song and local interest, along with outrings picnics and visits to the theatre and opera.
Over six months these residents increased their social activities threefold, both inside and outside the planned activities - they were also more likely to get together for coffee, walks and shopping - and were only a third as likely as the non-invited residents to report feeling that their days were monotonous and boring. Those in the social group were also significantly more inclined to protest when things went wrong.
What's more, these emotional changes were parallelled by improvements in hormonal and metabolic status that suggested a reduced risk of conditions such as diabetes and osteoporosis and indicated less stress and depression. Even more incredible, the social group actually showed a slight increase in average height, whereas the controls shrunk a little.
Now, we admit that as you get older, it can become more difficult to make friends, especially if you're retired or work from home. It wasn't always this way. Remember when your children were little? You made friends at the park and the school and through parents' groups, football teams and Boy Scout troops. Everywhere you turned, someone else was dealing with the same issues you were and was happy to get together for coffee to thrash through solutions.
Fast-forward to today. The children are gone or nearly gone, and chances are life is more solitary, with fewer external activities than 20 years ago. Even stranger is when you find you're in a neighbourhood filled with families living life at a different place. All this can be overcome and if, you read on, we'll give you lots of ideas to add social connections to your life.
One thing is crucial to each of these ideas: the willingness to reach out. For some people, making that first phone call, enquiry or appearance is as tough a task as running a marathon. We understand,
Adding dog years to your life
Talk about great companionship! Dogs worship the very ground you walk on. They don't care if you snap at them when you're in a bad mood or if you sit for hours saying nothing. But they do require that you get out of bed and walk them, at the very least. And that, studies find, is a very good thing for older people. When researchers looked at dog owners aged between 71 and 82, they found that those who walked their dogs were more likely to get 150 minutes of walking a week and to have faster walking speeds than those who didn't have dogs.
Other studies find significant health benefits in owning a dog (more so than owing a cat), including faster recovery from heart attacks, a greater ability to live independently and better overall well-being. If your living situation allows it, seriously consider adding a dog to your immediate family.
but there's no denying it: making new social connections requires reaching out. It takes courage, but when you acknowledge all your strengths, all your success and all that you have to offer, it gets much easier. Do what it takes to confirm your sense of self-worth and venture forth.
When you reach out of people, you will be astounded at the results. Yes, a majority will be too fearful to accept, and you will
Finding friends on the internet
Once, letter writing was common. Then it declined. Now it's back and better than ever in the form of emails and internet bulletin boards.
With the rise of the internet over the past decade, all the modern rules of communication have changed. On any given day of billions of email messages are flying around among friends, families, business associates and hobbyists all over the world. Whether you live in a remote village in the Shetland Islands or in a city centre, there are people out there who share your passions. You just have to find them.
In the past few years, older people have been the fastest-growing group of internet users. In fact, a quarter of all British internet users are now over 50, and people over 65 are the most active users, spending an average of 42 yours online every month. So make the effort to get connected and join in, whether it's for news, shopping, information, hobbies, keeping in touch with friends and family or socialising. If you don't have a computer, pop into your local library, where you can get help learning to use one if necessary. The more time you spend using the internet, studies find, the greater your social network. Many older people find that their lives has been transformed by a few hours a day online.
For the perfect place to start your search for information and like-minded communities, try the groups section on http://uk.yahoo.com. Often, there's a group's heading on a site's first page. Click there and enter your area of interest. Within minutes, you'll be off on an amazing journey through new communities and other similar websites. And so-called 'silver surfers' even have their own networking site, called Saga Zone, for people aged 50-plus (www.sagazone.co.uk).
Just as you would do at an airport or visiting a new major city, protect yourself when roaming online. Make sure your computer has protective software to prevent intruders. And never, ever publicly reveal personal information on the internet. Be constantly cautious and smart.
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