Loneliness Worse In The Middle Aged
Degrees of Loneliness are 14% greater among 35-64 year olds, compared to any other age group, a new study shows.
Researchers looked at how frequently people stated they felt lonely, just how long it lasted and how severe it was.
“The concept here is that solitude is experienced in any way ages,” said research leader, Professor Christina Victor in Brunel University London.
“However, when we examine frequency, intensity and duration coupled, middle aged folks seem be the loneliest.”
Approximately 7 percent of 16-24 years olds were feeling lonely based on this scale, falling to 5 percent among 25-34 year olds. That climbs to 8 percent in 35-64 year olds, then drops to 6 percent in people aged 65 and above. When asked what era they felt intensely lonely, many folks said their era today or slightly younger.
However, being lonely is occasionally a positive experience, in accordance with half of people aged 75 and above surveyed. It had been less for younger individuals.
The group’s new method of analysing loneliness helps pinpoint various kinds of loneliness, by way of instance, very extreme, brief or patchy. It might help identify those kinds probably to get the maximum from support. “There’s some thoughts that different age groups encounter these various measurements differently with young adults scoring quite highly on seriousness,” explained Prof Victor.
“Instead we’re considering how feeling lonely might be experienced differently across the entire life program.”
“To comprehend loneliness in later life, we must understand about people’s past experience”
I guess loneliness is worse in the middle aged because of many reasons, some of which could be:
1. Our kids are leaving the nest and it makes us feel old and alone
2. We’re approaching retirement which again makes us feel old
3. Our bodies start to show their age and we constantly have all sorts of health problems (big or small, they all add up)
4. Our mind might not be as sharp as it once was (with exceptions where some people are even sharper now)
It’s probably ok to feel lonely once in a while but when that’s your state of mind most of the time, well, that’s not ok.
I have had periods of loneliness throughout my life and while it has hit harder for me past the age of 40, it isn’t so different. I think it is normal for people to feel alone or lonely in different experiences. When I lost my job at the age of 45, I felt alone because all my friends and family had reliable jobs, were retired, or the younger ones were still in school. Either way, I think it only seems worse because of age but it really isn’t all that much different.