Isolation

There’s no getting around the reality that for so many older adults, loneliness continues to be an overbearing part of everyday life. As we have noted in previous posts, even if you have contact with other people and you’re not socially isolated, you may still experience profound loneliness (the subjective…

It’s no surprise that older individuals often feel lonely, as close family and friends become distant or have passed away, and as illness and disability make it harder to connect and gather. We’ve covered this topic on many previous occasions but it’s still jarring to read new research that confirms…

So how did you do over the holidays? Were any plans canceled due to illness? Did any holiday gatherings turn into super spreader events? If the past few winters and holiday get-togethers were any precedent, there was every likelihood that COVID-19 infection rates would climb over the holidays and hospitalizations…

It’s one thing to live alone, as is increasingly the case among older adults in the United States. It’s another to be socially isolated, which the National Institute on Aging describes as “the lack of social contacts and having few people to interact with regularly.” In fact, many older adults…

We’ve known for quite a long time that sensory input is critical to keeping our brains healthy and functioning. One important source of that input is social engagement. We also know that one of the most concerning health perils that accompanied Covid was the social isolation of many of our…

While it feels like a long time coming, the reality is that the development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines has come at a remarkable speed and it appears that very soon, vaccinations will begin in this country, as they already have in Britain and elsewhere. And while there remain…