Bill Roberts, 78 and disabled, rarely leaves his home. One of her most rewarding sources of collaboration comes twice a week, when her favorite Meals on Wheels driver delivers lunch – bonus points if it’s her Hawaiian comfort food, loco moco.
Early Thursday morning, he greeted the driver at his front door, leaning on his passenger before accepting his lunch.
“It’s nice to have people come,” said Roberts.
This morning visit relieves the loneliness and isolation that is so common and can be dangerous for seniors.
While a growing number of Americans feel lonely — a recent AARP study found that 40% of US adults share that feeling of isolation, up from 35% in 2018 — factors associated with aging can make it worse for older adults. Retirement, slow mobility, death of spouses and peers, and cognitive decline are all aspects of aging that make seniors vulnerable.
“Loneliness is more common in older people because they don’t have as much contact with people doing normal things like work,” said Doug Oman, an assistant professor of public health sciences at UC Berkeley.
The health consequences are more common with aging: Isolation is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke, depression and premature death.
“There are a number of older people who are psychologically lonely,” said Laura L. Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. “People who don’t have people to call if something happens to them.”
That feeling of loneliness, he explains, can be harmful to mental, physical and mental health. Research shows that significant social isolation is harmful at any age, but for older people, it can affect longevity.
Scientists are increasingly understanding loneliness as more than an emotional state. Feeling socially disconnected can activate the body’s stress response, Carstensen says, and chronic stress can affect cells and increase inflammation. Some of the leading theories suggest that persistent inflammation may accelerate aspects of the aging process.
Public health officials have long been concerned that loneliness is bad for physical and mental health — Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called it an epidemic by 2023, and San Mateo County has declared the problem a public health emergency.
“Anyone can be at risk,” said Lee Pullen, director of aging and disability services at San Mateo County Health. “This is not an issue of race, ethnicity or income.”
Local groups, including San Mateo County Health, are looking for ways to reduce the isolation that can come with age through support services, public transportation, and socialization programs.
Meals on Wheels works with the county to coordinate meal delivery and regular check-ups for older adults entering the home. Conversations at the door can serve as a lifeline for seniors who may go days without communication.
“I’m glad that loneliness is finally being recognized as an emergency; seniors are often forgotten,” said Meals on Wheels Peninsula Volunteers CEO Peter Olson. “We cannot forget about the people who built our communities.”
That Thursday morning, before visiting Roberts, a disabled adult, the first stop for the Meals on Wheels driver in San Mateo was a studio apartment.
Stephanie Figeira, director of the nutrition program, was greeted by Larry Dahl, 74. She receives meals on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Once a fixture on Stanford University’s campus, Dahl now spends most of his time alone at home due to crippling arthritis.
Dahl said he began to feel lonely as most of his friends died.
“It’s stressful,” Dahl said. “There have been three close friends who have died within the last 12 years.”
For Dahl, happiness comes with the Meals on Wheels staff when they arrive at her door. Sitting on a patio chair on his back porch, Dahl and Figeira talked for about half an hour. He shares stories about his early days organizing library shelves, the trees he planted in his yard decades ago, and the time he left a Meals on Wheels lunch with six extra beef stews.
“Sorry I kept you so long,” said Dahl as he finished discussing the limericks he wrote in his spare time.
Figeira assured him that it was time well spent. As he turned to the SUV to deliver the next meal, Dahl paused at the door, as if he had more to say.
The next week, someone would come back to listen.
