Having a purpose can add years to life

COVID lockdowns created a “hidden monster” of lingering loneliness in older people, according to an expert in aging.

Being unable to socialize for so long stripped people of their confidence — and many have failed to re-establish the friendships and social life they had before the pandemic, Rose Anne Kenny, professor of physic at Trinity College in Dublin, said.

Loneliness can also increase stress and shorten lifespan, she warned.

She cited the Irish longitudinal study on aging, which measures data on a large cohort of over-50s at two-year intervals, and looked at rates of loneliness and depression before, during and after the pandemic.

“Loneliness among people over 50 increased three-fold during COVID. It has not gone back to pre-pandemic levels. It is about halfway where it was before,” Kenny said.

“So unfortunately there is a lingering long COVID, which is loneliness, among people over 50, which is almost like this hidden monster that is very hard to address. People have lost confidence, lost self-esteem.”

The findings of the Irish study are replicated in its English equivalent, said Kenny, author of Age Proof.

She described loneliness as “one of the most toxic things we can do to ourselves” and said that if she could prescribe only one thing to boost well-being it would be “good, frequent engagement with friends.”

Kenny added that only 20 per cent of our lifespan is dictated by our genes, with the rest down to environmental factors over which we have some control. She said her research was not about extending lifespan but “about extending healthy lifespan.

“It's about condensing the period of time at the end of life where one experiences disability so that there is a healthier, probably better quality of life,” she added.

“At the moment in the U.K. we spend 20 per cent of our entire lifespan with ill health, so we've got to get that down.

“And there are things that we know influence epigenetics — biological aging — and that we know are very dominant in people with longer, healthier lifespans: quality relationships, friendships, lower stress, creativity, exercise and having a purpose in life.”

Maintaining a sense of purpose can be difficult for those who've retired, Kenny said, but it is crucial.

She added: “Lots of people, when they retire, say, `I'm invisible. I no longer have purpose.' Purpose really, really matters.

“We've evolved to need a purpose — if you have no purpose then, from an evolutionary perspective, why are you here?

“But you can create that. We read purpose in everything. So when you get up in the morning, have a list of things to do today — then you've just created purpose.

“Studies have shown that knowing why you wake up in the morning makes you healthier, happier, and adds probably up to seven years to your lifespan.”

As for exercise, Kenny said those around the world with higher-than-average lifespans “move naturally throughout the day. There is no putting on the Lycra and beetling down to the gym for an hour, getting back into the car and going back home: `I've done my exercise.'

“Physical activity is an integral part of their day — walking, gardening, housework. It's constant.”