Don't forget to invite your grandmother to dinner tonight ! Why ?
Because according to a recent study, inviting your grandmother to eat extends her life expectancy and improves her quality of life.
Researchers from the University of California, USA, have found that loneliness plays an important role in the decline of the elderly.
For this study, 1600 adults, with an average age of 71, were followed.
The result ? The death rate was consistently higher for single people.
Nearly 23% of participants living alone died during the 6-year study.
Conversely, only 14% of those who reported having satisfactory social relationships died.
"The need that we have all our life to have people around us who know us, appreciate us, bring us joy, never disappears even when we get older", explains Barbara Moscowitz, in the columns of New York Times , geriatric social worker at Massachusetts Hospital in the United States.
Older people value these relationships, sometimes more than their children or grandchildren do.
For them, family relationships are at the heart of life. Which is much less the case today for the new generations.
Especially since older people are generally more tolerant of their friends' faults and idiosyncrasies than younger adults, says Rosemary Blieszner, a professor at the University of Virginia Tech in the United States.
“As you get older, you have a lot more experience in friendship. You know when it's worth fighting for your ideas and when it's better to let it flow. »
In addition to inviting our grandparents to the house, it is also important to encourage them to develop their social relationships.
It is for this reason that despite what one may believe, the elderly are often more fulfilled in specialized establishments than if they remained alone at home.
In retirement homes, they have daily social interactions, especially with other members and with staff.
When you have a good time with your grandmother or grandfather, it's undeniable that it makes them feel good, but it's not a one-way street!
Indeed, we benefit from it too! How? 'Or' What ? It's simple.
The elderly enjoy our company and a pleasant conversation and from our side we enjoy their stories, their hugs and above all their delicious cake recipes which they keep secret :-)
