Today's episode can be helpful not only for the person with dementia,

but especially for you, the caregiver, because the information in this video can

help you lower your own dementia risk.

There has been a lot of studies on the impact of loneliness on somebody's

risk for dementia, and some studies have shown that loneliness increases

dementia risk while other studies.

Did not show those same results.

They didn't find a connection between loneliness and dementia risk.

So in 2021, a group of researchers in Japan decided to look at loneliness

and dementia risk, but they broke up the different types of loneliness.

So there are two major forms of loneliness.

One is called social loneliness, and one is called emotional lone.

Social loneliness is more about somebody's perception of their social network, like

having a group of friends and having maybe a neighborhood or a community that

they socialize with and connect with.

Emotional loneliness is somebody's perception of having a more close.

Intimate deep relationship with somebody such as a best

friend or a partner or a spouse.

A group of researchers in 2021 looked at over a thousand participants who

were between the ages of 65 and 92, and they wanted to take a look specifically

at those two different types of loneliness and whether or not those

people, when they followed them over a five year period eventually developed.

What they found was that people who experienced the emotional loneliness,

meaning they felt like they didn't have a deep connection, an intimate

connection with somebody, like a best friend or a partner, those people were

at a greater risk of developing dementia.

But people who endorsed or felt like they had social loneliness, like maybe

they lacked a big group or a big network of people, those people did not have

a greater risk of developing dementia in order to find out whether or not

the people were having loneliness.

If they.

Felt lonely.

They used a scale.

It was a six question scale.

I wanna focus on the emotional loneliness questions.

So there were three for social loneliness and three for emotional loneliness.

I'm gonna ask you or share with you the three questions for emotional

loneliness, because I want you to answer them for yourself because people who

endorsed at least one of these questions, those were the people who were at

greater risk for developing dementia.

So the three questions.

, and really there are statements.

So if you answered yes, it gave you a point toward loneliness.

So the first one was, I experienced a general sense of loneliness.

If you answered yes, that gave you a point toward loneliness,

meaning you were positive for experiencing emotional loneliness.

Another one was, I miss having people around, and then a third

one was often I feel rejected.

So if you answered yes to one or more of those three, then you would've been

positive for emotional loneliness.

How would you have answered those three questions?

Would you have answered yes to any of them?

Now those who answered yes.

Who were positive on one or more of those three questions, they had a

greater risk of developing dementia when they were followed for five years.

So those who were positive on the emotional loneliness scale, meaning they

answered yes to one or all three of those questions, they had over a 60% greater

risk of developing dementia than people who did not answer yes to those question.

Now again, this is a population of just over a thousand Japanese individuals,

so it's not everybody in the world.

This is just this particular study, but it is really important to know because

there has been a lot of research on loneliness in general and dementia,

and so if we can find something that is increasing risk for dementia, we

wanna do whatever we can take control however we can to lower our own dementia.

Now even more interesting is that when they looked at the people who were

positive and emotional loneliness, they separated them into people who were living

alone and people who were living with somebody else, like a spouse or a partner.

And what they found was that the people who were living with somebody

else, Those people were at an even higher risk of developing dementia

than the people who were living alone and had emotional loneliness.

So of the people who had emotional loneliness, the people who were

actually living with somebody and had emotional loneliness, that

was the highest group who had the greater risk of developing dementia.

That's pretty interesting.

And the researchers here are assuming that this suggests that people who live.

They have a greater expectation that they should have a deeper connection, that they

should have more intimate relationship with the person they live with.

And so when they don't feel that and they don't have that, it makes them feel even

more rejected and feel even more isolated, hence increasing their dementia risk.

Okay.

Do not freak out.

So why am I sharing this with you?

I am guessing as a dementia caregiver, your social relationships and your

connections with others is feeling like it has taken a hit or has

declined since becoming a caregiver.

After all, you are pretty busy and occupied with all the caregiving duties.

Now, luckily, this research shows it's not about the number

of social connections that you.

It's not about having a bunch of friends or having a bunch of activities.

It really is about having somebody that you have a close,

intimate relationship with.

Do you have somebody in your life that you can connect with on a deeper level?

If not, how could you reach out to somebody to help foster that relationship?

For my Dementia Care Club members, perhaps it's showing up in the weekly

support groups and creating a relationship with somebody in there for others.

Maybe it's reaching out to somebody you haven't talked to in a long

time, but you want to connect with.

Do not let this information get you down, number one.

Being lonely is not a guarantee that you are going to develop

dementia, but the research is showing that having that emotional

loneliness can increase your risk.

So based on this information, what actions can you take to help reduce

your own emotional loneliness?

Remember, you can be living alone.

It doesn't mean you have to be living with somebody else to not feel lonely.

It's not about where you live or how many people you know.

It's about establishing a close, intimate relationship with somebody.

For some of you, I'm guessing your closest relationship you've had in your life

may very well be with the person who now has dementia, so you're not really

feeling that closeness anymore because the dementia changes the relationship.

It might be hard to connect with.

On that level, understandably, there's going to be some loss

and grief associated with that.

How can you reach out to somebody else and establish a close relationship?

What ideas do you have?

Now, this study didn't dive into the types of communication.

It didn't say whether or not it had to be in person or whether it could be online.

I would take my best educated guests and say that having a relationship, a

close relationship, could very well.

Be somebody in a different state, somebody you barely even see, so long as you have

that emotional connection with them, that intimate sense of relationship

with them, I think that would count.

So don't let being confined to home not really being able to get out or

not even being able to see the person.

Don't let that be a reason you don.

Effort into establishing a deeper relationship with somebody, a

deeper connection with somebody, and obviously, as you can tell with

just the three sample questions or statements I gave in this video today

that they used to measure loneliness.

It really is just about your perception.

Now, keep in mind, this does not mean that if you don't have a deep

close relationship that you're at increased risk for dementia, either.

It's really about.

Perception of loneliness.

So let's say you're somebody who really doesn't have a close friend or

is really not involved in any close deep relationships, but you answered

no on all of those questions or those statements you answered no to.

I miss having people around or you answered no to.

I experience a general sense of loneliness.

Well, then you're not at risk.

This idea of loneliness is really your perception, your subjective of

perception about loneliness for you.

Nobody can tell you whether or not you're lonely based on your

relationships and how you spend your day.

It's really about you and your interpretation of if you are lonely.

So I wanna make sure that's clear too.

If you are somebody who's kind of always been fine being on your own and not

really having a lot of relationships, or not even having one close relationship,

and you don't really feel a sense of loneliness from that, great.

That does not mean you're an increased.

Risk for dementia.

Okay, so I'm gonna link to this specific article below in the description

if you wanna read into it further.

Again, it was a study on just over a thousand people.

They all lived in Japan.

They were between the ages of 65 and 92, and so we're just taking

that information and extrapolating it out to the general population.

It's good information to know because it's also showing you what can you.

Back control over what actions can you take If you were somebody who would've

answered yes to those three statements that I read earlier, all right, Carol

Blazer, what are your thoughts about this?

Are you committed?

If you're somebody who maybe realizes you don't have a close relationship,

but you also realize you would've been positive on the emotional loneliness

scale, what are you committing yourself to do to reach out to somebody?

Intimate relationships, they can take time.

So don't let one message or one phone call that somebody doesn't return.

Don't let that deter you.

Stay