Did you know that Personal Trainer for the Mind is now virtual? It’s a great tool to combat cognitive decline and loneliness. We are struggling with the impact of even greater social isolation amidst COVID-19. Not just in America, but across the globe.
Pre-COVID:
Fourteen percent of Brits reported suffering from loneliness, according to a commissioned UK report. Rates among the elderly were even higher.
Terry Crouch was appointed as the first Minister of Loneliness in 2018, as the UK acknowledged the economic and health costs associated with loneliness.
A 2012 study that tracked over 6,500 elderly men and women over a seven-year period in the United Kingdom reported:
The lack of social contact leads to an early death, regardless of participants’ underlying health issues.
One author of the study noted that though lonely seniors die of the usual causes, isolation is one of the main risk factors that worsen pre-existing conditions.
The UK’s national health guidelines call for anyone with a diagnosis of dementia to get cognitive stimulation, irrespective of any pharmaceutical treatments they may be receiving.