Dear LPG,

I read an American article about how loneliness affects the over-65s recently, and the conclusions that the writers came to were pretty depressing.    The UK stats showed much the same picture, but it was the facts that really hit home. 

Apparently it is better to be overweight than to be lonely which can have the same effect on you as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day.  It can bring on heart disease, high blood pressure and a greater risk of a stroke. It can bring on dementia more quickly too, and all that before you even think about the depression that is so often associated with living this way.

When I read this, the fact that I help to make up the UK statistics hit home somewhat, although I don’t think that any of the symptoms that are listed above apply to me, well at least not yet. 

I think that one secret way of fighting back is keeping busy.  The things that you are involved with can be your best friends and it is also important to make sure that some of those things are shared activities. 

I hear so many people say it is not worth starting something new because they won’t stick to it, but as CC wrote on these very pages recently, the journey is just as important as the goal at our time of life (►►►).  And remember you have earned the right to show off your achievements.  I still get to my sewing machine every now and then, and I find that having made something, I wake up for days with a positive feeling of pride in my work.   Making a new bespoke cushion for my cats bed was one of my most recent projects and, for days after, it left me with as positive a wake-up feeling as getting out of the wrong side of the bed can have in reverse, if you know what I mean.  I suspect that the cat is fed up of hearing me congratulate myself about that one…

 If it is possible, getting out during the day come rain or shine is also really good for you, health permitting.  I have invested in a coat that will not let the rain in and although the hood makes me look really odd I am well past worrying about what the boys will think of me.

Even if you have had mobility issues that have kept you at home for longer, the last year or two has left us all on a more level playing field when it comes to being locked down.  We have all had to learn how to keep ourselves amused at home and many of us oldies have been forced to learn a lot more about electronic communication.  Ordering shopping online and video chatting with grandchildren are activities that more of us have needed to learn, and they are skills that, I hope, will stay with us well after this pandemic has faded into the background.

I could go on but suffice to say, readers, don’t stop practicing any newly acquired IT skills just because you can get out and about now.  Keep doing, making and achieving things and don’t forget to stand back, take a good look at the finished article and congratulate yourself.  Then bring your friends into the picture and show off (even if they are underwhelmed). 

Those skills that you learned when stuck at home will help as the nights start to close in again so don’t forget all the skills that coved-19 forced you to learn…

PY, Penge.

PY shares the information she found…

(►►►)   (►►►)    

…and a few statistics...

(►►►)