Have you ever heard of the saying ‘It’s so painful to be lonely in a crowded city’? If you haven’t heard of it or have never felt its essence, you are indeed lucky. But everyone is not like you and it is becoming evident that loneliness can be the source of major illness, in particular for the elder ones. This has been the conclusion of many studies and a newly introduced study corroborates the same. The study states that elderly people, who are without family and friends or feel lonely even after having them, become vulnerable to miserable physical and mental health.

The study was conducted between around 3,000 U.S. adults ages 57 to 85 but there was a strange experience. It was found that people with few social connections were less likely to describe their physical health as good or excellent. Besides there was also no dearth in the number of people feeling lonely in spite of having friends and families. They were found to report poorer physical and mental well-being.

All these indicate there is a deep relation between older adults’ health and social connections and the declension of the later one has a domino effect on the earlier aspect. Nevertheless there is something else that demands attention. As stated by the researchers, older people’s actual social support and their perceptions of that support each have independent effects.

Speaking on this foremost researcher Dr. Erin York Cornwell, of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said, “Most older adults will experience significant changes in their social relationships due to things like retirement and bereavement, for example.”

What leads to this statement? It is found that many people, in order to get rid of loneliness, become active in social organizations or spend more time with friends and family. But eventually they become lonely. On the other hand, many older adults remain satisfied with having fewer relationships.

Cornwell said, “Given that the perception of one’s relationships is also important for health, older adults’ abilities to cope with changes in relationships are crucial.” “Those who are able to adjust to losses of social relationships will fare better than those who feel lonely or perceive a lack of support,” she said.