Overcoming loneliness: 4 ways to make real connections and build community
Have you ever considered how your brain interprets loneliness? Surprisingly, it recognizes it as a threat. Loneliness is more than simply a passing mood; it is a major risk factor for a variety of health problems. Loneliness can have serious consequences for our health, including sadness, anxiety, Read More...
Combating urban loneliness: restructuring cities to encourage social interaction
The way communities are constructed in today's bustling cities exacerbates the loneliness many people feel. Andy Field, a British artist, observed a park teeming with people but with little connection amongst them while visiting Baltimore's Mount Vernon Place. Field's insights from his book, Read More...
Breaking the ice: Swedish city combats winter loneliness with "say hello" campaign
In the frozen embrace of Luleå, where daylight dwindles to mere hours, plunging into icy seawater becomes a ritual. For Katariina Yliperttula, a dip before work is about more than braving the cold—it’s an invigorating thrill. "It’s like a happiness rush afterwards," she says, recounting her Read More...
What are the health benefits of backgammon?
We may just think of board games as something to take out on holidays or if you have heaps of free time. However, board games hold a whole range of health benefits that are usually overlooked. One of the most classic board games, backgammon, is a treasure trove that offers you a lot more than just Read More...
A new study reveals how engaging activities reduce loneliness
Loneliness can be a major problem for good mental health and brain health in the long term. Many of us, though, still live alone, and the pandemic and post-pandemic culture have led to sometimes unavoidable periods of loneliness. This doesn’t need to be unhealthy, though. A new study from Read More...
3 ways senior health rights improved post-Pandemic
The pandemic has been especially hard on the elderly population. Being in a high at-risk group meant that many older individuals could have no visitors and had their interactions hugely restricted even when living in the same home. This combined with staff shortages in hospices meant the levels of Read More...
VR helps reduce social isolation for seniors
The pandemic has been hard on all of us, especially at-risk groups with preexisting health concerns. Senior citizens are one of these groups that have been hit the hardest, with the number of social activities and sports that they can partake in being drastically reduced. Consequently, the levels Read More...
Researchers find companionship may reduce risk of Alzheimer's
Here at The Optimist Daily, we’ve written a great deal about the contributing factors to Alzheimer's disease and what you can do to help avoid it yourself. Exercise, proper diet, even knitting, and nifty nasal sprays can improve your chances, but recent findings suggest that just keeping in Read More...
New program in California helps kids manage tough emotions
It should come as no surprise that children across the US and across the globe have collectively struggled much more than usual over the past couple of years. Even before the pandemic in 2019, more than one in three US high school students reported experiencing persistent feelings of sadness or Read More...
Dutch supermarket introduces “chat checkouts” to combat loneliness
Jumbo, a Dutch supermarket chain, has come up with a simple and creative solution to combat the widespread issue of loneliness by opening tills where clients can stop and chat instead of being rushed to pay and gather their shopping. The very first “Kletskassa,” which translates to “chat Read More...