Loneliness: A Risk for Motor Decline in Old Age
Physical exercise is a good way to stave off declines in motor function in old age. But what about social engagement staying in touch with friends and family? Does that have any effect on preserving your ability to move about? The link may seem odd, but increasingly, lifestyle and psychosocial factors have been found to be critical factors in healthy aging.
In fact, a new study published in BMC Geriatrics by Dr. Aron Buchman, researcher in the Rush Alzheimers Disease Center, found that loneliness was associated with a more rapid decline in motor function.
Buchman collected data from 985 individuals who are participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal community-based study. Each year for up to 12 years, the participants were assessed on 18 measures of muscle strength and motor performance things like grip and pinch strength, the length of time they were able to stand on one foot, and the number of pegs they could place in a pegboard in 30 seconds. Loneliness was assessed by a standard psychological assessment tool.
Higher loneliness scores both in feeling alone and being alone were associated with a more rapid decline in motor function over the course of the study. Moreover, the decline in motor function was associated with a 50 percent increased risk of death.
Why this should be is not clear. But Buchman says that these results suggest that social engagement may be a modifiable risk factor for in old age one that can be targeted to increase the efficacy of efforts to meet the growing public health challenge and burden of motor impairment in our rapidly aging population.
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