Not seeing loved ones at least once a month and living alone significantly increases people’s risk of dying, academics at the University of Glasgow have found. The Guardian has more.
Using data from the U.K. Biobank study, a long-term study tracking the health and genetics of adults across the U.K., the authors looked at five different kinds of social connection reported by 458,146 people with an average age of 57 and then followed them for an average of 12.6 years. They found that each form of social isolation, such as living alone, often feeling lonely, or infrequent visits from friends or family, was linked to a higher risk of dying.
People who were never visited by friends or family were 53% more likely to die from cardiovascular disease and had a 39% increased risk of death compared with those who were visited daily. Those who lived alone were 48% more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, while not being able to confide in someone or take part in activities also increased mortality risk.
Those experiencing more than one form of social isolation were at an even higher risk. People who lived alone and never saw friends or family had a 77% higher risk of dying from any cause and an even higher risk of dying from heart disease or stroke, compared with those living with someone who saw friends or family daily, the study calculated.
But even visiting just once a month could reduce this risk, the researchers concluded. The study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, calculated that people who received friend or family visits on at least a monthly basis had a significantly lower risk of dying, suggesting that there was potentially a protective effect from this social interaction.
“The risk seems to be [among] people who are very isolated, and never ever see friends and family or see them less frequently than once a month,” said the study’s co-author Jason Gill, Professor of Cardiometabolic Health at the University of Glasgow.
“Ensuring that you visit your lonely and isolated relatives is a super helpful thing to do because it seems to be important that people have a visit at least once a month.”
The study did not examine why social isolation and loneliness increased mortality risk, but its lead author, Dr. Hamish Foster, a clinical research fellow in general practice and primary care at the University of Glasgow, said: “It could be that people who are more socially isolated may have some more unhealthy behaviours like smoking or high alcohol intake, for example.” He also suggested that not having someone to help take them to the doctor or encouraging them to seek help when needed, as well as direct biological effects on the immune system, could be factors.
The Guardian report fails to make the obvious link to the impact of lockdowns on mortality. But its sidebar does seem to be onto it, suggesting an article entitled ‘“Socially stunted”: how Covid pandemic aggravated young people’s loneliness‘ to read next.
Worth reading in full.
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As even the speaker of the house of commons has finally realised, Britain is in the grip of a totalitarian centre left government which has one aim only, to cling to power.
School children, the welfare of citizens, the economy, go hang, the cover up, for that is what it is, as Lord Sumption has pointed out, is the only thing that matters.
As a consequence, all those who fear continued lockdowns fuelled by fear inducing propaganda well into next year and quite possibly beyond are right so to do.
This is a backside covering effort of epic proportions by a government that knows full well it has made the biggest set of blunders of any British government since 1914.
Is it just backside covering, now, or is it love of huge, easy power? Why not declare victory when the vulnerable were jabbed?
In my view, it is a Clinton style rolling election campaign within which the cover up plays a vital role in perpetuating the suspension of adversarial politics and media critiques.
Fortunately the latter has finally kicked off via GB NEWS: compelling (and balanced) viewing for lockdown sceptics.
I think we’re on a similar page. Early days for GB News, fingers crossed.
I was impressed by Dan Wootton having a discussion with three pro-restriction commentators (including one employed by GBN). It is good to be exposed to their prejudices and to have them challenged, rather than getting the nodding head treatment from the host.
Since 1914?
” Britain is in the grip of a totalitarian centre left government “
A statement that competes with the worst Covid maniac screwiness for sheer stupidity and denial. How to discredit and marginalize this site. It is noticeable he infiltration of sheer barmy fantasy and nonsense has grown over the past few weeks. Friends of 77th Brigade?
Sigh. The “77th” trope is getting wheeled out so often, it’s in danger of entering the language with the sense of “person with whom I disagree”, much as “sadlidie” is supplanting “die”.
Lockdown is communist, supporters of lockdown are communist trolls.
Good to know that the government has NOT taken total control over the lives of its subjects.
Lefties will NEVER understand the damage they have done and are doing. A shame since in most respects you seem quite intelligent.
‘a backside covering effort of epic proportions’? Well, just look at the size of Bozo’s backside and you’ll understand why!
By centre-left, you mean communist.
Kim Jong Johnson is a communist.
After a year and a half of trying I think we have to conclude that there is no effective way to contain the virus
Which virus? I’ve seen more children die from chicken pox, first hand, than from ‘the covids’.
Yep. Twenty per year apparently. And parents are keen ( or used to be keen ) to have Chicken Pox Parties to spread it around and build herd immunity !
Chicken pox appears to be affecting children younger than it used to, I think I was eight when I had it, now 2-3 year olds are catching it. The problem is that the virus persists and can erupt at any time in the future as shingles. Shingles used to be pretty much an adult manifestation of the virus, but it is now appearing in young children and can be very painful.
When I was a kid you started school at about 5 and there were no nursery schools, so younger kids were rarely exposed.
Now both parents can work from a much younger age for thier kids, and they have to to afford the house.
Great for the people who own the government.
I was talking about the impact of the virus on the general population, rather than on school age children, which is clearly so small as to be utterly irrelevant.
It was the phrase ‘the virus’ that I objected to, almost like there is only one virus stalking the the land, killing and maiming.
Just lazy.
I think we all know which virus we’re talking about
Obviously we do, however, the words used affect thinking. Not for us, for the hard of thinking, the propaganda uses this trick very effectively, ‘there is only covid!’.
Take some time observing the hard of thinking going about ritualistic hand sanitising rites and shopping trolley sacraments, whilst wearing their sacred false beards.
‘The Virus’ is embedded in their neurological pathways, the possible cure is to offer different frames of reference, Me – ‘Which virus?’
HoT – ‘You know, the covids’
Me – ‘Oh, I thought you were doing that to prevent a real killer virus, like ebola for example. You do know that ebola has a fatality rate of roughly 85%? By the way, your face mask won’t prevent that and no amount of feverish watered down alcohol solution will help. Enjoy your day.’
HoT – ‘…….’
Or something like that.
Yes, good points
Children under the age of 16 have a greater chance of dying from the flu, per CDC historic data and facts.
You really can’t be serious.
Always deadly serious. Some countries have had limited, temporary success, but it’s not practical or sustainable. It will just spread and there’s very little anyone can do about it, or indeed should given that whatever gets done does more harm than good.
Why so despondent because very little can be done? The idea that government is a gigantic parent that can solve all your (and society’s) problems, punishing and rewarding you as it sees fit, remains unaltered since “government” was synonymous with “the prince”. It’s an idea of such infantile arrogance and hubris, it’s unsurprising that it’s finally coming apart at the seams. Unfortunately it’s equally unsurprising that the majority of the infants are siding with the would-be parent. The truth – that life is risky and all the better for it and the security provided by the state is relative and sporadic and all the better for it – is just incredibly unpalatable to people who are habituated to be fearful and not to think things through.
I’m not despondent about that – just about the madness!
The currency or tool the “Prince” employs has always been fear. “I will protect you” is the predicate that justifies all of his actions and what ensures his power. He who controls the narrative controls the world … and the citizens who inhabit our world.
That’s why, in America, we’ve had all those wars (I mean “interventions”) to “protect” our citizens from grave threats like Iraq. It’s our freedom-stealing governments that also protect all of our “freedoms.”
You cannot contain any virus, it may be suppressed to the point of extinction in the wild like smallpox but that took over 200 years.
Well that blows apart Whitty’s comments yesterday about school closures being a reason to need to vaccinate children.
The only reason schools were closed was to pacify lazy bed wetting unionised teachers, all of whom should be summarily dismissed.
Speaking with a teacher at the weekend I mentioned such studies to her. That infections is schools can not be said to be any more of a risk than general and that, when balanced against the harms to children in terms of masks and closures, the measures taken this year have been horrendously bad.
She got extremely angry and listed off 4 people in her staff who got Covid. That’s it. She was totally off on one and said kids are spreading this. Etc.
She finished by saying they’ve been told to prepare for lockdowns in the Autumn again. She is totally fine with that and was clearly loving being able to share this inside info with the group.
She made me sick.
Redundancy is far too good for her. Four teachers got flu and she wants lockdown forever.
Four people got Covid..!! Dreadful.! I suppose that they all died. /sarc.
None of them get that a “case” was once a “medical case,” meaning that everyone who was diagnosed required medical treatment. The “medical” part of the definition was conveniently dropped.
In education and in “science,” one should define the terms and think about why definitions may have been modified. Alas, we no longer live in an educated society. Real education is considered dangerous.
But they have no idea of the source of the infection. If masks work (I know!) then they would have been protected, so the school could not have caused it. Another logic fail.
In my wife’s art group most are retired teacher and only one is sceptical, the rest are mice.
The best and brightest minds in our institutions of higher learning – and throughout all levels of “education” – are all dunces.
… So we’ve got that going for us as a society.
I think the schools were closed for many reasons, the main one being the same reason everything else got closed – because they can.
Yes … and sustained by the Fear narrative.
Virtue-signalling ranting is the counterpart to wearing a mask – just bone-headed in terms of what is actually going on. No wonder the rational case gets sqeezed out by crap coming from both sides.
Because there is not cost to them from the closure
Not just dismissed, but flogged as well.
Interesting work.
… but ?? “1 additional positive PCR test per 1,000 parents … They also looked at the number of diagnosed cases of COVID-19, but found this did not differ significantly between the two groups of parents. “
i.e so we are still in casedemic territory, even at this level.(re. parents)
620 ‘cases’ – ??? – re. staff. Still PCR+?
We’ve always been in casedemic territory and we are not coming out any time soon.
I think you could expand out the headline to:
“Anything Any Government Anywhere in the World Did Only Had A Minor Effect on the Spread of COVID-19, And The Effect was Often Negative”
since that is the lesson the graphs of deaths teach us.
Governments hate not being able to control events. An airborne contagious respiratory virus is an example of an event which cannot be controlled. It makes governments look impotent (which of course they are when faced with forces of nature). They don’t like to look impotent. Hence all of the pointless measures and the opportunistic increase in authoritarianism.
Yes, that’s a good summary of one of the major aspects
And ordinary people sadly seem to expect govts to be able to control the tides, and are desperate for them to keep on pretending to try and pretending its working
Seems like no-one likes to face the inevitable
I’d say they were a bunch of Cnuts, but Cnut was demonstrating his limits of control.
Steady now, using almost swear words will get you downticked..
Yes, that’s a good summary of one of the major aspects.
No, I don’t think so.
Governments suppless the fact that the populace is coerced from VAST sums of money which is used generally highly negatively.for the coerced and the country would be much better off if they kept their earnings to spend on their own needs.
Tax rises are like paying a mugger to get a better knife.
So it’s not a planned event then, all masterminded by globalists intent on making lots of vaccine money and killing off a large section of the population, because they believe the world is just too crowded for them to enjoy it properly. And politicians are just trying a bit too hard and Bill Gates is really just a very nice philanthropist who wants Africa to be a really nice safari park, all for himself, of course. No need to worry then.
‘If You’re Not Scared Yet, You’re Not Paying Attention’: Artur Pawlowski Warns of Communist Takeover
https://rumble.com/vij0x7-if-youre-not-scared-yet-youre-not-paying-attention-artur-pawlowski-warns-of.html
Yawn. How to miss the point while the crims walk away with the swag.
What is the point then?
The symptoms have been changed to include a headache, runny nose and sore throat according to Tim Spector! He urges everyone with any of these symptoms to have a test. Cue an increase in “cases” due to hay fever or the common cold.
Seems appropriate to dig this one out again:
Jon Rahm, a “confirmed” COVID “victim” or “patient,” was running away with a golf tournament victory – shooting back-to-back scores of 64 and 65 … while playing with COVID. He was made to drop out of the tournament and lost $1.7 million he would have won.
To the long list of Covid policies the experts and politicians got completely wrong, we can add closing schools.
About those “experts” and the “settled science” …
We HAVE to close the schools … well, maybe we shouldn’t have.
You can get the virus outdoors …. Well, actually, no you won’t.
You can get the virus on physical surfaces …. Well, actually the odds are more like 1-in-10,000.
The virus definitely did not escape from a lab …. Well, maybe it did.
Texas’s governor is a “Neanderthal” … Cases and hospitalizations in this state will now soar …. well, maybe they won’t.
We MUST test heathy young athletes 3 times a week and enforce these 150 pages of protocols to protect their health and ensure their safety …. well, actually this virus poses no real health risk to members of this population and they are just as safe without these protocols …
Yea but no but yea the PCR thingamajig aint worth the swab it came from
Keeping school children at home (for more than a year in some states) is a “crime against humanity.” It was a crime committed against these children, as well as a crime committed against their parents who had to stay at home (and forego and income) to take care of these children.
Alas, it was a crime our leaders got away with. And even were applauded for committing.
In addition, teachers could transmit the virus to one another in the staff room, and parents could do so when picking their children up from school.
The author does not know Sweden very well, parents do not pick up children from school, they are at work. Even 6year olds (when they start school at that age), have a key and make their way home via public transport or walk. At least it was like that 25years ago when I lived in Stockholm, but I cannot imagine it changed.