This past year of COVID quarantining and isolation has been difficult for everyone, and particularly for the aging population. Depression, anxiety, and loneliness have been on the rise and the current state of this pandemic shows no end in sight.

However, The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry recently published an encouraging study that offers hope for mitigating these crippling effects of social isolation. According to the researchers,

“Older adults who met with a health coach and participated in a single session of community exercise programming reported decreased loneliness and social isolation at 6 months post-participation, compared to their baseline scores.”

This is much needed good news in a trying time!

MBJ
By Terissa Michele Miller, MS Psy

Check out the original research:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1064748120305145?via%3Dihub