SOCIAL ISOLATION AND RISK OF EARLY DEATH

SOCIAL ISOLATION 'INCREASES
DEATH RISK IN OLDER PEOPLE'

www.bbc.co.uk - Social isolation is associated with a higher risk of death in older people regardless of whether they consider themselves lonely, research suggests. A study of 6,500 UK men and women aged over 52 found that being isolated from family and friends was linked with a 26% higher death risk over seven years. Whether or not participants felt lonely did not alter the impact of social isolation on health. 
Age UK says cuts to services for older people are compounding the problem. It is not the first time that loneliness and social isolation has been linked with poor health. But researchers wanted to find out if it was the emotional aspect of feeling lonely that was having an impact or the reality of having little social contact.

Those who were socially isolated - that is had little or no contact with friends or family - were more likely to be older and unmarried and have long-standing illnesses limiting their mobility, such as lung disease and arthritis. People who described themselves as feeling lonely were more likely to be female and have a wider range of health conditions, including depression. Both social isolation and feeling lonely were associated with a higher chance of death. But after adjusting for factors such as underlying health conditions, only social isolation remained important. That risk did not change when researchers added in whether or not someone felt lonely in their isolation.
Michelle Mitchell, director general at Age UK, said: "This study shows more clearly than before that being lonely and isolated is not only miserable, it is a real health risk, increasing the risk of early death." She added that cuts to local authority budget cuts may exacerbate the problem of isolation for many older people.

People who are socially isolated are more likely to die prematurely, regardless of their underlying health issues, according to a study of the elderly British population. Study leader Prof Andrew Steptoe from University College London, said: "Social connections can provide emotional support and warmth which is important but they also provide things like advice, making sure people take their medication and provide support in helping them to do things." The findings showed that when mental and physical health conditions were factored out, the lack of social contact continued to lead to early death of many men and women. Every human being should be obliged to his parents, and realizing that he can not pay this debt, should strive to serve them in whatever they need. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Śrī Krishna said: "My dear father and mother, a man has a debt to pay to his parents, from whom he gets this body which can bestow upon him all the benefits of material existence." ... "This body is produced by the combined efforts of the father and mother. If, after growing up, a son does not try to satisfy his parents by his actions or by an endowment of riches, he is surely punished after death by the superintendent of death and made to eat his own flesh. If a person is able to care for or give protection to old parents, children, the spiritual master, brāhmanas and other dependents, but does not do so, he is considered to be already dead, although he is supposedly breathing."

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
"Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead"
Chapter 44 "Krishna Recovers the Son of His Teacher"
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/