M<\/span>any people are surprised to learn how incredibly impactful meaningful relationships and a sense of purpose are on your healthspan, brainspan, and even your lifespan. When it comes to ageless aging, the potential upsides of nurturing our relationships with friends and family, and finding new ways to bring purpose to our daily lives are too potent to leave on the table.<\/p>\n Our research at Age Wave<\/em><\/a> has been on the cutting-edge of exploring the impact that purpose and social capital have on our well-being as we live longer lives. In one of our 2023 studies with more than 9,000 adults, including more than 700 women 50+, we learned that as we live longer, the greatest source of purpose for most women is spending quality time with loved ones. These two elements\u2014purpose and social capital\u2014are closely linked. Of course, besides spending time with family, there are lots of other ways to add meaning to your life, including living a spiritual or faith-filled life, which for many ranks high.<\/p>\n Marc Freedman, a renowned social entrepreneur, thought leader, author, and founder and Co-CEO of CoGenerate<\/a>, told me about purpose with a little \u201cp\u201d and Purpose with a big \u201cP.\u201d Purpose with a little \u201cp\u201d can sometimes be as simple as enjoying walking your dog, babysitting your grandchild, or sharing a meal with friends. On the other hand, Purpose with a big \u201cP\u201d can be something as momentous as starting your own business, volunteering for a cause that makes your heart sing, or getting involved in an issue that can have positive impact on the world at-large.<\/p>\n First, it\u2019s important to understand connection by looking at the growing epidemic of isolation and loneliness in our society, especially among older adults.<\/p>\n Scientific data confirms the fact that loneliness has the same health risk as smoking 15 cigarettes daily. Research has linked loneliness to elevated inflammation, increased blood pressure, and even as a contributor to heart disease, depression, and early death.<\/p>\n According to Dr. Dean Ornish<\/a>, clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and president and founder of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute, \u201cthousands of studies show that people who are lonely and depressed are three to ten times more likely to get sick and die prematurely from pretty much all causes, when compared to those who have a sense of love, and connection, and community.\u201d<\/p>\n While these data points have been known by researchers and social scientists for some time, it was the pandemic that brought this crisis to the forefront. With its extended lockdowns and the ushering in of an era of remote work and school and the very elderly being isolated in nursing homes, loneliness and isolation became more evident and more prominent.<\/p>\n Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy, told me, \u201cWe tend to get very fixated on individual wellness, but interestingly, the word illness starts with an I, and wellness starts with a we.\u201d There\u2019s actually a medical term for the social aspect of health, it\u2019s called social fitness. Conley added: \u201cCommunity is a social safety net. We have property liability insurance for our home, but where\u2019s the emotional insurance for our personal rainy days?\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, you want to try to have a diverse portfolio of relationships. \u201cMany of the studies that have been done around immune system functioning have shown that people who have a broader range of friendships actually fare better,\u201d Dr. Harding says. However, while virtual connections can be helpful, they can\u2019t be everything. \u201cIt\u2019s important to share physical space with people,\u201d Harding says, so that you can read their body language and do what psychologists call co-regulating\u2014or matching our moods and emotions to the people around us, something we\u2019ve done since infancy without perhaps being conscious of it.<\/p>\n According to Dr. Fried, \u201cPeople who retire and do nothing get sick and have greater healthcare needs. In addition, they aren\u2019t contributing to our collective wisdom.\u201d A study at the University of Michigan found a direct link between continued work and longevity when it concluded that people who work past the age of 65 add years to their life. It can be a great tool for reinvention to find a new career path, turn a hobby into a side hustle, or start a business working part time, flex time, or as much as you\u2019d like.<\/p>\n It\u2019s so easy for your world\u2014and your worldview\u2014to slowly get smaller as you live longer. But, as Helen Dennis told me, \u201cWe have to have some sense of self- responsibility\u2014no one is stopping us from putting ourselves out there except us.\u201d Join a book club or a class to learn something new or try an organization: Generations Over Dinner (generationsoverdinner.com) organizes meals where people of all ages get together and discuss the deeper meaning of life. There are also language schools, art centers, community theater groups, and even community colleges where you can find your people as you learn.<\/p>\n \u201cDoing something kind is a very fast way to turn around a lousy mood or a lousy day,\u201d Dr. Harding shared with me when I asked if she had any hacks for boosting well-being. Her favorite quick kindness is to pick up three pieces of trash around her New York City neighborhood. \u201cIf I\u2019m in a grumpy mood, it works like magic.\u201d By doing this, she has inspired her neighbors to do the same, and they have created neighborhood clean-up days that have led to closer friendships as well as cleaner streets.<\/p>\n Reach out to the friend you haven\u2019t spoken to in months\u2014or years\u2014or strike up a conversation with someone new.<\/p>\n Get a manicure, massage, or other treatments that involve human touch.<\/p>\n Really. Adding kind, supportive touch into your life, especially if you\u2019re a solo ager, is important. \u201cThings like a manicure or a massage may seem like luxuries, but they\u2019re a form of physical connection, and the data says that touch is really critical to our well-being,\u201d Harding told me.<\/p>\n Also known as gramping, which is a win-win-win: you not only get special time with your grandchildren, you free up your children to focus on their lives and work or just get some time together without the kids. And of course, you get to deepen your bond with your grandchild or grandchildren.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re in a long-term relationship with a partner\/spouse, renew your wedding vows. You can combine it with a vacation or just do it at a local park. The point is to punctuate your relationship as being important enough to revisit your vows and maybe even think about how you might improve that relationship.<\/p>\n Hacks to foster purpose and connection<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[186,187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summe-2024","category-spring-summer-2024-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14949"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15264,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14949\/revisions\/15264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Loneliness and Isolation Health Crisis<\/h3>\n
Wellness Starts with \u201cWe\u201d\u2014Especially for Women<\/h3>\n
Ageless Aging Hacks to Foster Purpose and Connection<\/h3>\n
Keep working<\/h3>\n
Be a joiner<\/h3>\n
Do an act of micro kindness<\/h3>\n
Be bold and take the initiative<\/h3>\n
Travel with your grandchildren<\/h3>\n
Renew your wedding vows<\/h3>\n
Excerpted from Ageless Aging<\/em><\/a> by Maddy Dychtwald with Kate Hanley. Copyright \u00a9 2024 by Maddy Dychtwald. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored, or reprinted without the prior written permission of the publisher.<\/h5>\n
Maddy Dychtwald is the co-founder of Age Wave<\/em><\/a>, a company that provides insights and solutions for the challenges and opportunities of an aging society. She\u2019s also the author of AGELESS AGING: A Woman\u2019s Guide to Increasing Healthspan, Brainspan, and Lifespan<\/em><\/a> (Mayo Clinic Press, 2024).<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"