Elderly More Likely to Suffer Pandemic Loneliness — Unless they Feel Younger Than Their Age

re: Elderly More Likely to Suffer Pandemic Loneliness — Unless they Feel Younger Than Their Age

nardobuddy — 6/20/2020 5:23:32 AM

All the isolation is actually killing our seniors. I just lost my father. Put in assisted living In January. Nursing center went into isolation in March ( western Kansas). Then he start going into quarantine fairly regularly with repeated falls ( anytime you leave facility for anything and return it required a 14 day isolation). I would call and ask how he was doing ( I’m in Boston) and they would say,” He had a bad day. He kept trying to come out of his room...”. He is an extrovert supreme and wanted to be with others. I tried to get him out, volunteered to come stay and hire help. POA shut me down- would not allow dad to come back to his Own home which he had taken over. Drove to Kansas and spent two weeks talking outside his window to him. It was like he was in prison. He passed shortly after I left. It was not a life for him or really for anyone.

re: Elderly More Likely to Suffer Pandemic Loneliness — Unless they Feel Younger Than Their Age

Cabochon — 6/20/2020 2:19:36 AM

Loneliness and social isolation are now recognised by functional medicine as primary drivers of chronic disease having both psychological and measurable physical effects. In spite of its politically correct failings on the subject of traditional diets in the areas of the world described by the author of ‘The Blue Zones’, there is one important common features of these parts of the world - that there is still a strong community bond in the lives of the inhabitants. The cult of youth, the break up and separation of the generations, the prevailing culture of ageism and economic internationalism replacing community may all have played a part. A new publication ‘The Power of Community’ (James Maskell, 2019) looks at possible solutions through group interaction.