Being lonely 'worse than smoking'

[skywalker85]

Being lonely in old age will propel you to the grave more quickly than smoking, a senior Downing Street adviser said as part of an effort to encourage people to retire later.

David Halpern, the director of Number 10's Behavioural Insight Team, said not having someone with whom to share problems was one of the most significant lifestyle factors affecting mortality.

Dubbed the "nudge unit", Mr Halpern's team was set up to develop ways to push people gently into changing behaviour rather than more draconian government interventions.

Mr Halpern was picked by Prime Minister David Cameron as one of six experts joining him at a summit of Nordic and Baltic states, where one topic was how to ensure more workers delayed their retirement.

He told other leaders and experts that a majority of the UK's over-75s considered themselves lonely "all or most of the time".

"Work matters, particularly for older people, not just for money, but absolutely for social contact," he said.

Presenting a graphic setting out specific lifestyle factors, he said: "We know smoking is really bad for you. But much worse are things like social relationships.

"If you have got someone who loves you, someone you can talk to if you have got a problem, that is a more powerful predictor of whether you will be alive in 10 years' time, more than almost any other actor, certainly more than smoking."

He also suggested the numbers of old people living alone were causing the UK's housing shortage.

"We do have enough houses, it's just essentially they are lived in by older people."


That's Me Double Fucked

[very shy guy]

Being lonely in old age will propel you to the grave more quickly than smoking, a senior Downing Street adviser said as part of an effort to encourage people to retire later.

David Halpern, the director of Number 10's Behavioural Insight Team, said not having someone with whom to share problems was one of the most significant lifestyle factors affecting mortality.

Dubbed the "nudge unit", Mr Halpern's team was set up to develop ways to push people gently into changing behaviour rather than more draconian government interventions.

Mr Halpern was picked by Prime Minister David Cameron as one of six experts joining him at a summit of Nordic and Baltic states, where one topic was how to ensure more workers delayed their retirement.

He told other leaders and experts that a majority of the UK's over-75s considered themselves lonely "all or most of the time".

"Work matters, particularly for older people, not just for money, but absolutely for social contact," he said.

Presenting a graphic setting out specific lifestyle factors, he said: "We know smoking is really bad for you. But much worse are things like social relationships.

"If you have got someone who loves you, someone you can talk to if you have got a problem, that is a more powerful predictor of whether you will be alive in 10 years' time, more than almost any other actor, certainly more than smoking."

He also suggested the numbers of old people living alone were causing the UK's housing shortage.

"We do have enough houses, it's just essentially they are lived in by older people."


That's Me Double Fucked

Its quite true,think of the elderly waiting on the postman/districh health nurse/meals on wheels to even have someone to talk to,lonleness is a killer.

[saoirsemac]

Its quite true,think of the elderly waiting on the postman/districh health nurse/meals on wheels to even have someone to talk to,lonleness is a killer.

and something very evident in rural areas, hence why the drink driving bans are severe for us there is no public transports this auld boys wudnt have more than 4pints in 5hour period, its the social aspect for them, and now they are so afaird they go nowhere and i said it before an eledry man is less likely to pick up the phone to call someone,

i wish we did more for our eledry, we too will be old someday remember that,

coz down the country the pub really is the only social thing there is, and going playing cards (mostly in pubs)
i am extermely thankful for the GAA, i know there alot of people here who look down on it call it bogball watever, but beyond the action on the field the GAA is all about communitys, i rarely remember missing a football match on saturday night or sunday afternoon, some of the best days out for us, messing around the pitch as kids and the banter in the stands, it was always more than just football

[Curvaceous Kate]

Hang on, if we are talking about elderly that need meals on wheels, ie too old to cook themselves a meal, how on earth are they meant to hold down a job? I don't think they mean that at all, they are just making excuses for why you have to work into your 70s and not get a pension. Surely if they were that worried, they would lay on better transport and community ideas?

[very shy guy]

and something very evident in rural areas, hence why the drink driving bans are severe for us there is no public transports this auld boys wudnt have more than 4pints in 5hour period, its the social aspect for them, and now they are so afaird they go nowhere and i said it before an eledry man is less likely to pick up the phone to call someone,

i wish we did more for our eledry, we too will be old someday remember that,

coz down the country the pub really is the only social thing there is, and going playing cards (mostly in pubs)
i am extermely thankful for the GAA, i know there alot of people here who look down on it call it bogball watever, but beyond the action on the field the GAA is all about communitys, i rarely remember missing a football match on saturday night or sunday afternoon, some of the best days out for us, messing around the pitch as kids and the banter in the stands, it was always more than just football

God Orla some of us are old and not getting any younger,well put young lady,very true about rural life and old age,lonely old men,heading that way myself.

[very shy guy]

Hang on, if we are talking about elderly that need meals on wheels, ie too old to cook themselves a meal, how on earth are they meant to hold down a job? I don't think they mean that at all, they are just making excuses for why you have to work into your 70s and not get a pension. Surely if they were that worried, they would lay on better transport and community ideas?

Kate,meals on wheels is mostly an urban thing,there are old men well into their eighties living on their own in the country,mostly small farmers that might only see the postman during the day,being old in this country means you are a burden on the state and I fully expect that the old age pensions are going to be cut in the next budget or the one after that,Ireland is not a great country to grow old in.

[samlad]

Never underestimate the state of mind. When we are stressed, our immune system is weakened, we get spots, mouth ulcers, headaches, heart palpitations, etc. so it makes sense that loneliness would have an adverse affect on our health too.