Loneliness – ☕️

In an article published in International Psychogeriatrics, Lee and colleagues reported that loneliness peaks at the following life stages: young adulthood (late-20s); middle age (mid-50s); and late life (late-80s). In addition, the researchers also reported a strong negative association between wisdom and loneliness.

Loneliness is associated with being in young adulthood, middle age or late life. I think that this association arises because people tend to experience significant changes to their social circle during these life stages, and these changes tend to (but not always) cause loneliness. For example, people in young adulthood might re-locate for employment, people in middle age might lose employment, and people in late life might lose friends to death; all of these makes their social circle smaller, at least in the short-run.

Wisdom is negatively associated with loneliness. In the article, the researchers described wisdom as a complex human trait which involves emotional regulation, self-reflection, pro-social behaviours (e.g., empathy), decisiveness, social advising, tolerance of divergent values and spirituality. I suppose volunteering is one way to develop each of these components of wisdom. If so, people who feel lonely could take up volunteering in an attempt to improve their mental-wellbeing.