Loneliness and Mental Health

Loneliness is associated with higher odds of having a mental health problem amongst older adults and consequently is increasingly becoming a serious public health hazard.

Many studies over the last decade have examined loneliness and social isolation and its consequences on health. Researchers now realise that prolonged loneliness damages health as surely as obesity, poor diet, sleep deprivation and environmental factors.

Did you know that:

• Loneliness can lead to more frequent sleep disturbance
• Loneliness can increase your levels of the stress hormone cortisol which can lend to depression or even stroke or heart-attack
• Social relationships are the top factor to improved health and wellbeing

Making the effort to connect with people or groups is proven to help improve immune systems, our holistic wellbeing, our brain health, our sense of place and meaning in the world.

Read more about loneliness and its impact on physical and mental health on the website of the Campaign to End Loneliness.

What are we doing?

We would like to invite you to a coffee and chat session on Wednesday 11 May at 14:30. This online session will be an opportunity to hear from some of our Compassionate Neighbours and to share our own experiences.

In this event you can find out about:

• How loneliness has become a mental health epidemic with consequences on our health and social care systems
• The benefits of investing in social connections
• How North London Hospice's Compassionate Neighbours programme (we were one of the first and leading hospices to launch this) works, and what a difference it makes to a sense of health and wellbeing
• How a GP prescribing a befriending scheme or a club to get someone reconnected with their local community, can be as impactful as a medical prescription in terms of improving our physical health, our mental health and ability to maintain independence

By participating in this event you consent to sharing your name and email address with us.

Coffee Roulette

We are planning to follow this event up with a new initiative, Coffee Roulette. For technical reasons, this is available to staff and volunteers only.

Those staff and volunteers who would like to take part will be entered into a draw to have a coffee with another member of our organisation.

People who sign up for this event drawn at random, and will be paired together to organise a coffee (virtually or in person). If you do not wish to participate in Coffee Roulette then you will be given the option to opt out when registering.