Study: Exercise Reduces Loneliness, Social Isolation in Seniors from Mercola
GNN Note – This would likely hold true for any age group. We should all add a little exercise to our lives. It probably will not lengthen our time on this world, but it will make it easier as we age. #END
Lonely, older adults could improve their physical and mental health by simply joining a group exercise class.
Group exercise classes for older adults, whether in person or virtual, was shown to lessen loneliness and social isolation and also reduce the risk of falling, according to a new Cedars-Sinai study.
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The study was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, but findings show that since March, when the pandemic forced classes to be held online, the virtual classes have been effective, as well.
Loneliness and social isolation is widespread among older Americans, and can be blamed for devastating health consequences such as depression, anxiety and suicide.
According to experts, an older person’s health is impacted just as much by being socially isolated or lonely as it would be if that person smoked 15 cigarettes a day,
“As the demographics of our country shift, more people are living alone than ever before,” said the study’s lead author, Allison Moser Mays, MD, a Cedars-Sinai geriatrician. “The number of adults over the age of 65 in the U.S. is expected to reach more than 70 million by 2030 — double what it is now. We need sustainable ways to help this burgeoning population thrive as they age, or there will be widespread consequences.”
The study tracked 382 participants ages 52 to 104 from July 2018 through March 2020, when the pandemic forced the exercises classes to move online.
“These classes had already been shown to reduce the risk of falls in seniors, and this was the first demonstration that they also reduce social isolation, to the best of our knowledge,” Mays said.
