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Keep moving! Yes! Also, emotional health is important. Many elderly people die of loneliness. If one parent dies, be VERY vigilant about getting the other into

Keep moving! Yes! Also, emotional health is important. Many elderly people die of loneliness. If one parent dies, be VERY vigilant about getting the other into a situation where he/she has friends.

wuunderbar 5y ago
> Many elderly people die of loneliness. How does this work exactly? Medically speaking.
- m_fayer 5y ago
  Depression -> not eating -> weakness -> accident or opportunistic infectious disease. It's also underappreciated how often depression in the elderly can lead to confusion or even psychosis. Which can also lead to a fatal accident.
spookthesunset 5y ago
> Many elderly people die of loneliness. Good thing society banned people from visiting their relatives in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. We sentenced the oldest in our population to die in what amounts to solitary confinement.
- jlokier 5y ago
  Video calls weren't banned, so it wasn't as bad as for people that nobody calls at all.
  - accountofme 5y ago
    Video calls are not the same. Never will be, we like to see our loved ones, hug them, seeing them on a screen is nice, but it is not the same.
    - jlokier 5y ago
      I agree with you. But it is dismissive to those people with nobody at all in their lives, to equate "got calls instead of in-person visits" with "nobody knows or cares about you and you will never receive a call from anyone for the rest of your life". The GGP conflated those experiences but they are qualitatively different. I'm fully in favour of visiting the old people in your life. But I wish people would also spend some time brightening the lives of other old people as well.
- geoduck14 5y ago
  I don't understand why you are getting down voted. You are dead on. My wife worked with geriatrics. She directly saw the impact of having friendly people around the elderly. Even if you aren't visited by your family, any visitors can help. The pandemic made this especially difficult. My wife worked to overcome this: she partnered with a local "sniff" (think: old people left the hospital, but they need some help before they go home, so they go to an old-people hotel) to have fun events where people from our church would visit the elderly and just have fun. Please visit the old people in your life.
satori99 5y ago
I watched a TV documentary recently that was making a serious attempt at addressing this problem in Australian society. It was about older people in nursing homes who were sent to pre-school, with unrelated children a few days a week. The effect on these senior citizens heath and quality of life was profound. Old People's Home For 4 Year Olds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13_rJVvxx_g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13_rJVvxx_g
- geoduck14 5y ago
  Yup. I believe it. Consider, also: not all old people are mobile enough to leave their home (or even bed!). They need friends and happy people. If you work with elderly, please be friendly. If you know elderly, please be friendly to them.

Keep moving! Yes! Also, emotional health is important. Many elderly people die of loneliness. If one parent dies, be VERY vigilant about getting the other into a situation where he/she has friends.

wuunderbar 5y ago

> Many elderly people die of loneliness. How does this work exactly? Medically speaking.

m_fayer 5y ago
Depression -> not eating -> weakness -> accident or opportunistic infectious disease. It's also underappreciated how often depression in the elderly can lead to confusion or even psychosis. Which can also lead to a fatal accident.

spookthesunset 5y ago

> Many elderly people die of loneliness. Good thing society banned people from visiting their relatives in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. We sentenced the oldest in our population to die in what amounts to solitary confinement.

jlokier 5y ago
Video calls weren't banned, so it wasn't as bad as for people that nobody calls at all.
- accountofme 5y ago
  Video calls are not the same. Never will be, we like to see our loved ones, hug them, seeing them on a screen is nice, but it is not the same.
  - jlokier 5y ago
    I agree with you. But it is dismissive to those people with nobody at all in their lives, to equate "got calls instead of in-person visits" with "nobody knows or cares about you and you will never receive a call from anyone for the rest of your life". The GGP conflated those experiences but they are qualitatively different. I'm fully in favour of visiting the old people in your life. But I wish people would also spend some time brightening the lives of other old people as well.
geoduck14 5y ago
I don't understand why you are getting down voted. You are dead on. My wife worked with geriatrics. She directly saw the impact of having friendly people around the elderly. Even if you aren't visited by your family, any visitors can help. The pandemic made this especially difficult. My wife worked to overcome this: she partnered with a local "sniff" (think: old people left the hospital, but they need some help before they go home, so they go to an old-people hotel) to have fun events where people from our church would visit the elderly and just have fun. Please visit the old people in your life.

satori99 5y ago

I watched a TV documentary recently that was making a serious attempt at addressing this problem in Australian society. It was about older people in nursing homes who were sent to pre-school, with unrelated children a few days a week. The effect on these senior citizens heath and quality of life was profound. Old People's Home For 4 Year Olds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13_rJVvxx_g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13_rJVvxx_g

geoduck14 5y ago
Yup. I believe it. Consider, also: not all old people are mobile enough to leave their home (or even bed!). They need friends and happy people. If you work with elderly, please be friendly. If you know elderly, please be friendly to them.