Researchers have known for a long time that social support reduces stress. Social support, in fact, be one of the strongest factors in determining who lives not only a long life, but also who lives a long, healthy life.

Now research from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden suggests that elderly people who live by themselves, socially isolated, are 60% percent more likely to develop dementia. Dementia is a component of such diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Obviously for individual elderly people, this is an important piece of research. It is even more significant when one considers the number of elderly people who are now alive, and the growing numbers that will be alive once the Baby Boomers move into their late 70's and 80's.

This is an involved piece of research, and one important aspect of it is how the researchers defined social networks. They considered three aspects of socialization: whether the elderly lived by themselves, whether they had a strong network of friends, and whether they got along with their children. (Incidentally, frequency of spending their time with their children didn't matter; what mattered was whether they had rapport with their children, even without frequent visits.)

If the elderly didn't not get along well with their children, it essentially doubled their chances of becoming demented.  Interestingly, the researchers also found that the rates of dementia were higher in the elderly who had children but didn't get along with them than the elderly who had no children at all.

The researchers were careful to point out that the study didn't tell them why strong social networks seem to influence a healthy elderly life, and they also did not measure at what point the elderly lost their social network. This is an important question because it suggest the seeds for dementia are sewn long before the elderly actually age. If this is the case, then intervention when people reach old age already be too late.

Certainly the research suggests that creating and maintaining strong social support is important for a long, healthy life.
 

Janelle Barlow, Author
The Stress Manager
 
 
 
 

Previous "Stress Management Corner" pages:
 

#1	New Approaches to Job Stress
#2	If Exercise Works as a Cure...
#3	Headaches! The Most Common Complaint
#4	Eight Glasses a Day!
#5	How Well Does Zinc Work?
#6	Intense Emotions Can Kill You
#7	Sleep!
#8	Job Stress and Compensation Claims
#9	Job-Related Stress
#10	Losing Weight - It's Not Easy!
#11	Food Supplements - How Necessary?
#12	Stress and Change
#13	Depression Among the Elderly
#14	Spirituality and Your Health
#15	It's Cold Season Again!
#16	A Positive Attitude is Important
#17	Power of Laughter
#18	More Laughter and Stress Management
#19	Go for a Massage!
#20	Aspirin: That Little White Pill
#21	Aging and Self-Conception
#22	Worker Stress Increasing
#23	Back Pain
#24	Kava: The Natural Cure for Anxiety
#25	Oxidative Stress Theory
#26	Yet Another Cause of Fatigue
#27	Can Too Much Iron Be Bad for You?
#28	Tea: A Magical Potion?
#29	Sleep, Social Attitudes & Individual Needs
#30	Proof: Walking Reduces Heart Disease
#31	Anger and Heart Attacks
#32	Impact of Relaxation on Cancer

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