News

Loneliness is bad for you – it’s official!

And according to new psychological research, it gets worse as you get older.

The research, by Louise Hawkley and John Cacioppo, was reported in the August issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

McCarthy & Stone have confirmed their theory from the viewpoint of older people who do live in neighbourly surroundings.

Research commissioned by the retirement builder has shown that older people living in sheltered housing developments enjoy high levels of companionship and support and thus experience improvements in their health and well-being.

Hawkley and Cacioppo studied a group of college-age people and people in their fifties and sixties.

Their findings show that lonely people, whether they are young or old, experience more stress than people who are not lonely.

They also find it harder to deal with stress, partly because they enjoy poor quality sleep and are less likely to seek help from others.

As sleep tends to deteriorate with age anyway, this aspect of the problem is worse for older people; and other physiological problems caused by loneliness will also get worse over time through an inevitable process of wear and tear.

These findings come as no surprise to Dave Vallis, marketing director of McCarthy & Stone, the company which for the last 30 years any has been building community-oriented private retirement developments.

He said: “As a company we have always known that loneliness can be a problem for older people, especially once the children have left home or if they have lost a partner. More often than not, people find themselves living on their own in a large house, in a street where their neighbours are out at work all day.

“By contrast, our developments give people the opportunity to live as part of a community and many of our residents report psychological and health benefits as a result.”

“A key part of the McCarthy & Stone concept is to provide on the one hand, communal areas where residents can meet and socialise, and on the other a house manager who will welcome new arrivals and then be a source of on-going support to them in their new life.”

Most McCarthy & Stone developments have a shared lounge, with a kitchen for making tea and coffee; and this becomes the hub of social activity for the people who live there – although other shared facilities like the garden and even the laundry room come a close second!

However, socialising is never compulsory.

Dave Vallis continued: “We are very aware that everyone is different and some people like to socialise more than others, so what we offer is a balance of privacy and companionship. All our apartments are self contained homes with their own front doors.”

The health benefits of living in a supportive community of like-minded people were among the key findings of an independent report commissioned by McCarthy & Stone and launched at the House of Commons in 2003.

According the report, A Better Life: Private Sheltered Housing and Independent Living for Older People,* almost a third of current residents highlight companionship as the single greatest advantage of private sheltered housing, while two-thirds say they enjoy their lifestyle more than they did in their previous home.

Almost two-thirds of residents feel their sense of well-being has improved since they moved into private sheltered housing – a significant finding given the average age (79) of residents.

Furthermore, a majority believe they will live longer in private sheltered housing and 86% believe their retirement apartment is for life.

Dave Vallis said: “Another interesting phenomenon we see in our developments is that a high level of support from their community seems to make residents feel more independent. A Better Life showed that 58% of residents said they have become less dependent on their children and 59% enjoy a more independent lifestyle than they did in their previous home.”

Although highly significant, community spirit is not the only factor contributing to older people’s sense of health and well-being in sheltered housing. Built-in security features like a 24-hour Careline system and TV camera surveillance have been consistently popular with buyers.

According to A Better Life 88% of residents believe that private sheltered housing helps to improve their personal security and over a half cited security as a major advantage of a purpose-built retirement flat. Most McCarthy & Stone developments are served by a 24-hour personal emergency service and television security systems.

And in a ringing endorsement of the concept, a staggering 92% of residents said they would recommend their way of life to their friends.

*The findings published in this report are the results of two quantitative polls carried out by Opinion Research Business (ORB) and 8hwe Ltd in July 2003 and a series of qualitative focus groups and in-depth interviews carried out in June and July 2003.