{"id":1655,"date":"2023-01-15T00:24:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-15T00:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.villages.com.au\/?p=1655"},"modified":"2023-01-16T02:25:57","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T02:25:57","slug":"reach-out-to-your-older-friends-over-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.villages.com.au\/health\/reach-out-to-your-older-friends-over-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Reach out to your older friends over the holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1655\" class=\"elementor elementor-1655\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-9c009a2 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"9c009a2\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-036d8ad\" data-id=\"036d8ad\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4e2c8da elementor-drop-cap-yes elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4e2c8da\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;drop_cap&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.15.0 - 20-08-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p>I<strong>f you have older friends or relatives who live alone, the holiday season might be tough for them, especially those who have experienced loss.<\/strong><\/p><p>Older Australians are increasingly likely to live by themselves, and research shows that at least 13% of people aged over 65 endure loneliness, while 8% of over-65s are socially isolated \u2013 and worse, according to several studies, social isolation can increase the risk of premature death from all causes, as well as heightening the risk of dementia, heart disease and stroke.<\/p><p>According to Dr Whitney Carlson, a geriatrics psychiatrist at University of Washington School of Medicine in the US, <strong>one of the most important things you can do for your older friends who may be isolated is to reach out and make contact.<\/strong><\/p><blockquote><p>This particular time of year for seniors is difficult because many seniors live away from their families.<\/p><\/blockquote><p><em><strong>\u201cThey often can&#8217;t gather, or the people they want to be with aren\u2019t here anymore. The key is just to take an interest, I think, because most people just feel invisible.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><p><em><strong>\u201cI think we can all go along in our little bubbles and our own small social circles,\u00a0but I think\u00a0the altruistic thing to do is to care about everybody in the society, and that includes people that need a little help, whether they know it or not,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> she said.<\/p><p>It may only seem like a small kindness to give an older friend or relative a call on Christmas Day \u2013 but it could do more for them than you know.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you have older friends or relatives who live alone, the holiday season might be tough for them, especially those who have experienced loss. Older Australians are increasingly likely to live by themselves, and research shows that at least 13% of people aged over 65&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[128,95],"class_list":["post-1655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-loneliness","tag-tips"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1655"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1675,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions\/1675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}