A new study is suggesting that having more visits with grandparents, can help extend their lives. The relationship between a grandparent and a grandchild can be a very important one, and a lot of moms have fond memories of spending time with their grandparents, and they want the same for their children. However, life gets in the way of even our best-intended plans, and it can be hard to connect. The demands and pressures of life can make it hard for a mom to get her children and her parents together for some quality time, but it may be beneficial to the health of those grandparents.
According to Study Finds, a new study was done that has shown that loneliness in older adults can take 5 years off their lives. As a child’s grandparents age, loneliness is a large factor in their lives and it can have an effect on their mental, and now physical, health.
This study was done by Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore and it can be read in full here. The study showed that adults over the age of 60 who reported that they sometimes or always feel lonely die up to five years sooner than older adults who did not report feeling lonely.
Rahul Malhotra was the study’s lead author and he reiterated that his study showed that loneliness plays a large part in the lifespan of an older adult, and in some cases, it is preventable. This is a study that shows that there is much more at stake when it comes to taking time to visit with grandparents. It was also pointed out how loneliness has been the main theme over this past year with the COVID-19 pandemic, and a high number of seniors have already reported feeling incredibly isolated and lonely, unable to have visits with family and grandchildren.
However, the study did not just look at life expectancy when it came to loneliness. They also found that older adults who were lonely did not feel like they would be in “good health” for very long, and a lot of them reported that they think they won’t be able to do daily activities for themselves as long. This is also further proof that mental health has direct links to a person’s physical health, and it cannot be neglected. This may be a sign for parents everywhere, that maybe even just regular phone and video calls may be enough to cure some of the loneliness that grandparents are feeling.
Sources: Study Finds, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society