Summary: A new study finds that loneliness impacts memory more negatively than social isolation among older adults. Those who are both socially isolated and lonely experience the greatest memory decline, but loneliness alone also significantly harms memory.
The study emphasizes the need for targeted community programs to address these issues. These findings highlight the importance of addressing loneliness to support cognitive health in aging populations.
Key Facts:
Source: University of Waterloo
About a third of Canadians feel lonely, and a study from the University of Waterloo shows it has a greater negative impact on memory than even social isolation, though both present a significant risk to the aging population.
Loneliness is a subjective emotion that people might feel even while engaging in social activities. It is often associated with depression and an increase in stress hormones that may contribute to impaired memory.
Waterloo researchers examined four combinations of social isolation and loneliness and their effect on memory in middle-aged and older adults over a six-year period. These combinations include being socially isolated and lonely, being only socially isolated, being only lonely and being neither.
“As we expected, people who were both socially isolated and lonely had the greatest decline in memory, which intensified over the six years,” said Ji Won Kang, lead author on the paper and a PhD candidate in the School of Public Health Sciences at Waterloo.
“But we were surprised to find that loneliness alone had the second-greatest impact on memory, even though so many studies report on the dangers of social isolation without considering loneliness.”
Those who aren’t lonely but are socially isolated may be stimulating their mental capacity with solo activities, such as reading, playing games and engaging in hobbies that improve memory and stimulate the brain, despite not engaging in social activities.
Kang hopes the findings of this research will highlight the need for community programs, especially for the combined group of older adults who are both socially isolated and lonely, and therefore at the highest risk of memory impairment.
“Older adults in the lonely category often have lower incomes than the other groups and may have structural barriers and health conditions preventing them from connecting to their communities,” she said.
“A solution could be to implement transportation or home-visit programs— something to address the societal issues that lead to them being more isolated.”
The group who is just lonely is the next priority, requiring a different approach.
“We would need to know what is causing their loneliness,” Kang said. “They may be connected socially and have close relationships, but for example, maybe their marriage is falling apart and they would benefit from counselling.”
The study was an interdisciplinary project between the School of Public Health Sciences and the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Waterloo.
Author: Pamela Smyth
Source: University of Waterloo
Contact: Pamela Smyth – University of Waterloo
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Exploring the differential impacts of social isolation, loneliness, and their combination on the memory of an aging population: A 6-year longitudinal study of the CLSA” by Ji Won Kang et al. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics
Abstract
Exploring the differential impacts of social isolation, loneliness, and their combination on the memory of an aging population: A 6-year longitudinal study of the CLSA
Memory plays a crucial role in cognitive health. Social isolation (SI) and loneliness (LON) are recognized risk factors for global cognition, although their combined effects on memory have been understudied in the literature.
This study used three waves of data over six years from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging to examine whether SI and LON are individually and jointly associated with memory in community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults (n = 14,208).
LON was assessed with the question: “In the last week, how often did you feel lonely?”.
SI was measured using an index based on marital/cohabiting status, retirement status, social activity participation, and social network contacts.
Memory was evaluated with combined z-scores from two administrations of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (immediate-recall, delayed-recall).
We conducted our analyses using all available data across the three timepoints and retained participants with missing covariate data. Linear mixed models were used to regress combined memory scores onto SI and LON, adjusting for sociodemographic, health, functional ability, and lifestyle variables.
Experiencing both SI and LON had the greatest inverse effect on memory (least-squares mean: -0.80 [95 % confidence-interval: -1.22, -0.39]), followed by LON alone (-0.73 [-1.13, -0.34]), then SI alone (-0.69 [-1.09, -0.29]), and lastly by being neither lonely nor isolated (-0.65 [-1.05, -0.25]). Sensitivity analyses confirmed this hierarchy of effects.
Policies developed to enhance memory in middle-aged and older adults might achieve greater benefits when targeting the alleviation of both SI and LON rather than one or the other individually.
