Social Isolation & Loneliness

Interdependence and the building and sustaining of networks have been key themes in our last few newsletters. Aging with dignity means that, for the vast majority of us, we must age together. Yet aging together faces serious barriers, not least of which is a profound trend toward social isolation and loneliness among older adults.

The phrase "social isolation" refers to objective measures of our interconnectedness. How easy is it for us to get out of own homes and participate in community events, and how often are we able to do so? How much and how often can we rely on care partners to provide support for us when necessary? Separately, "loneliness" is our subjective sense of feeling isolated. While the two are often related, they need not be so. An eighty-year-old retired artist who prefers the creative comfort of his own home can be socially isolated without experiencing loneliness. Alternatively, a seventy-year-old actively engaged in the workforce but whose children reside far away may have no social isolation at all, yet may experience loneliness nonetheless as she struggles to sustain meaningful family relationships.

Whatever our degrees of social isolation and loneliness (often referred to in shorthand as SIL), what is unfortunately yet abundantly clear is that they are bad for our health. Extensive research has found that the experience of either social isolation or loneliness can increase our risk of a host of medical problems, from heart disease to dementia, by as much as 50%. In fact, one study suggested that they may increase our risk of early death by 25%. Concern over the impact of SIL is so high that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine commissioned a major report in 2020 in order to catalyze efforts to improve it.

Despite increasing public attention, neither our healthcare nor our social systems currently do much to help us navigate social isolation and loneliness. While medicine can excel at one-onone therapeutics, it often fails at solutions that require togetherness. There is no pill or procedure for SIL. And we all know that our social supports, regrettably, do not perform much better. Research has shown that at least 20% and up to 75% of those residing in long-term care facilities (assisted living or skilled nursing care) report feeling "very" or "severely" lonely.

To reverse the trend toward social isolation and loneliness in older adults, we need to cultivate communities of meaning. We must come together to talk about what matters to us as we age, and, what's more, to act on those things that matter. This means pursuing our interests in community, however we may define them. This is why we at Alula often use the phrase "connected care." In order to care meaningfully for one another we must be connected, and in order to truly connect in ways that improve social isolation and loneliness, we must care deeply and wisely. Alula's onboarding process for care recipients invites us to delineate not just our needs but our aspirations and our sources of meaning. And with our newsletters, webinars, brief videos, and other tools we continue to build, we aim to provide care teams with curated educational tools to help solve aging's greatest challenges. If you haven't already – join us and care through meaningful connection (and invite friends)!