Happiness is the most important feeling in the world. Someone who is happy has a positive outlook in life and not only that they usually have good health condition as well. However, worries, fears and loneliness are some of the things that can't be avoided.
Loneliness for instance, just comes without a warning. Some may say that it's all about mind control. This might be hard to do for older people. According to an article in the Mirror, a new study shows that there are thousands of older people in Britain who are lonely, therefore making them prone to long-term health problems.
A research done by Anglia Ruskin University checked the data collected by The Silver Line, the 24-hour confidential phone service for older people. This hotline was able to learn and know the experiences of each caller over the past years. This hotline was founded by Dame Esther Rantzen.
Upon checking the data, they were able to find that about three quarters of the callers have poor health compared to the one third remaining callers. The report added that there is some evidence showing that most of the callers have mental problems and that some are exaggerating the problems they are facing.
A professor of healthcare policy at Anglia Ruskin, Professor Stephen Moore said that these older people have problems and they are feeding off the negative emotions of each other makes the situation harder to solve. He added that it would also be better because helping someone to feel better means that they will feel there is another person who understands them and that it would be easier to solve the problems.
According to the report, 80 percent of the people who called The Silver Line seek for advice and friendship to counteract the loneliness already have a history of illness or disability. 46 % of the people said that they enjoy the activities that they do as compared with 76% of the general population.
One or more in 3 people are being supported by this service got a record of highest loneliness index score. The study measured the loneliness of the callers from the start and end over a six months period. After that period, they found that below one third of the people were less lonely basing from their index score. Another aspect that the research found is that more women called the hotline and only 31% of the callers were male.
