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This rose to 93 per cent when those aged over 65 were asked. Also, more than half of British adults said that admitting to loneliness was difficult for them.
Three quarters of over-65s (76 per cent) confessed that they would find it hard to admit to feeling lonely because they do not want to be a burden.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK said: “With millions of people affected, including 1.2 million chronically lonely older people, it’s clear that loneliness is a serious social problem in our country that we cannot and should not ignore.
The impact of loneliness can be devastating – mentally, emotionally and physically – and while there is no quick fix, we can all do something to change things for the better: a simple act like saying hello and having a chat can brighten up an older person’s day and do more good than most of us would ever guess.”
Lolita’s story
Lolita, 76, who lives in Neath, Wales, revealed in the commission’s report how loneliness had begun to ‘grind her down’.
In 2016 she had her third stroke and was left with limited mobility, using a wheelchair to get about.
To read more about Lolita’s story visit the Homecare.co.uk website.
Live-in care is an excellent choice for later life care but it isn’t right for everyone. Here we look at five key questions that can help you decide if it is right for you.
Live-in care provides many benefits including:
- 1 to 1 care
- Helping clients maintain their social life, hobbies and clubs
- Ensuring that the health of the client is as optimum as possible
- Keeping clients in a familiar place
- Enabling clients to remain with partners and pets
- Providing an affordable alternative to residential care
When you are planning later life care you should look at all of the different options available to you as an educated choice is the best choice. However, it may be that your preferred care is to stay in your own home and have a professional live-in carer but you want to feel completely sure that it will be right for you. To help you with this important decision, check out the five key questions to ask yourself when considering is live-in care suitable – visit the Live In Care Hub website.
Instead of resting, older people should be exercising and keeping physically active, according to doctors.
A report in the British Medical Journal has called for a change in the current thinking that exercise is only for the young.
Older people need to take responsibility for their health and cut down the need for social care by keeping fit, say doctors.
Scarlett McNally, an orthopaedic surgeon and lead author of the report, said: “Social care can be preventable because the risk of disease, disability, dementia and frailty can be reduced.
“We need individuals to understand how to get active every day and to help their friends and family to be active. We need national and local organisations to build activity and active travel into our environments and to demand improvements. The improvements are quick.”
For more information on this story – click here
Half of older people experience mental health problems, but many feel they have to keep a stiff upper lip and soldier on rather than seek help.
According to YouGov’s research, depression is both the most common and most treatable mental illness in old age, which affects nearly eight million people aged 55 and over in the UK.
To mark World Mental Health Day, national charity Age UK is joining forces with NHS England to encourage older people to seek help and is calling on GPs to spot the warning signs earlier.
Caroline Abrahams, Age UK director, said: “In recent years there’s been nothing short of a cultural revolution in our willingness to be open about mental ill health, but it’s one that may well have left many older people behind. They grew up in an era when there was a real stigma associated with mental illness so for many these attitudes are deeply ingrained and still driving their behaviour today.”
’Feeling depressed or anxious is just something they have to put up with’
To view more of this story visit the Homecare.co.uk website
