Visiting grandparents increases life expectancy for elderly people
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A UK study of more than 450,000 adults found that not having periodic visits increases the risk of death among the elderly
Researchers at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, discovered that loneliness even impacts the life expectancy of older people.
Elderly people who have no contact with other people and say they never receive visitors had a 39% higher chance of dying than individuals of the same sex, age and health condition, but with more social connections. According to scientists, both objective loneliness, which comes from isolation from physical relationships, and subjective loneliness, which we maintain with close friends and family, contribute to a greater risk of death.
“It wasn’t what we expected to find. But it seems clear that there is a threshold effect: once you start seeing your friends and family monthly, the risk remains quite stable. It doesn’t matter if it’s a monthly visit, a weekly visit, several times a week or every day”,
says cardiologist Jason Gill, one of the study’s authors, for the El País website.
The study used data from 458,146 adults with an average age of 56.5 years registered in the UK Biobank database and followed them for 13 years. Participants without group activities, living alone and without frequent visits, face a greater risk of death, the team noted in research published in the journal BMC Medicine this Friday (10).
“Each of these three factors was associated with a higher risk of death, but in particular, people who reported never receiving visitors stood out. The combination increased the chances of death by up to 39%,”
says Harmish Foster, another study author.
Loneliness kills
Researchers explain that behavior, habits and mental state worsen in the face of isolation. “It may be that friends and family offer a specific level of support to people and help them access health services”highlights Foster.
Another theory is that the consumption of alcohol and cigarettes increases with loneliness, while physical exercise and conversations with other people decrease — all of these are risk factors for the development of chronic diseases that can reduce quality of life and even lead to death.
*With information from Metrópoles
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