United States – COVID-19 lockdowns ended up making many Americans who are over 60 feel like they were alone all day long.
Today, new research comes out showing that many have not yet returned to the main stream of life, as reported by HealthDay.
According to researchers, old people now spend about 50% of their time at home and engage in fewer public activities than before despite the fact that the pandemic is over.
Impact on Social Activities and Mental Health
The results indicate that the main reason seniors are isolated from public life is that they fear contamination and are anxious that their interactions with people may become more violent.
“The pandemic is not over for many folks,” commented Jessica Finlay, a geography assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and the study leader.
“We found that the pandemic fundamentally altered neighborhoods, communities, and everyday routines among aging Americans, and these changes could have long-term consequences for their physical, mental, social, and cognitive health,” Finlay said in a university news release.
Survey Findings Reflect Persistent Changes
In the study, Finlay and her colleagues questioned, about 7,000 people aged 55 and above from all 50 states. The researchers distributed surveys that were used on an annual basis with open-ended questions, which focused on how people spend time after the pandemic.
The data reflects that approximately 60% of the respondents shared their experience of spending more time inside the house after the pandemic.
75% and 62% of those surveyed indicated that they go out to restaurants less and visit cultural and arts venues less, respectively. According to the survey, over 50% of interviewee said they rarely go to church or the gym like before the pandemic.
“[My friends and I] would get together monthly for a luncheon at different restaurants. We had been doing that for 15 years,” Shirley, a 74-year-old city dweller, told the researchers. “There would be 10 or 15 of us that would go. We haven’t gone since the pandemic, and that I do miss.”
However, the findings were from a survey conducted around two years ago. Although the most recent poll conducted in the spring of this year showed similar trends, researchers explained. Over 50% of seniors admitted that their everyday lives have changed quite a bit after the pandemic.
The results were reported recently in the Wellbeing, Space and Society journal.
Adaptation to a “New Normal”
Some seniors appear to take action to figure out a “new normal” regime.
“I like to walk, and then we have a weight station out in the barn and a treadmill downstairs,” Nancy, a 67-year-old rural resident, told researchers. “Also, there’s a dead-end road that I can go down. So that’s not too bad, but I’ve never used a gym.”
Seniors increasingly use online resources to attend seminars, concerts, and meetings.
“You find new avenues. There is plenty online. There are a lot of Bible teachers online and wonderful music,” Lisa, a 77-year-old living in an urban area, told researchers. I’m in a prayer fellowship, and the ladies feel very free to share the things that they are really struggling with. Also, when you see the way they’re struggling with their issues and the outcome, it’s very comforting.”
Finlay has a concern that older persons could have severe mental and social health problems, which are a result of the loss of random interactions that generally happen when someone is out.
Potential Consequences for Societal Cohesion
“For some older adults who live alone, that brief, unplanned exchange with the butcher or the cashier may be the only friendly smile they see in the day, and they have lost that,” Finlay said, as reported by HealthDay.
The trend could worsen an increasingly polarized society. “It is increasingly rare for Americans with differing sociopolitical perspectives to collectively hang out and respectfully converse,” she said.