Dr. Miriam Stoppard: A Vital Free TV License for Solitary Retirees – Miriam Stoppard

Recently, I attended a Mirror Gathering to protect free TV licenses for over 75 years old.

I've heard many stories about how television is a lifesaver for seniors and keeps them up to date on what's happening globally and locally.

I am a strong advocate of free television licenses for seniors and I have said, giving a medical reason for my support – television is an antidote to loneliness.

Loneliness can ruin your health and shorten your life. A solitary existence can make you obese and accelerate cognitive decline into dementia.

In Great Britain and the United States, about one in three people over 65 live alone.

High blood pressure, obesity, lack of exercise and smoking are risk factors for illness and premature death for health.

Loneliness harms health by increasing the levels of stress hormones that play a role in the destructive inflammation that affects the entire body and brain.

Professor John T Cacioppo of the University of Chicago has shown that loneliness overly stimulates the body's stress response.

Chronic solitude leads to increased levels of cortisol, a major stress hormone, increases blood pressure, decreases blood flow to vital organs, and can impair the immune system's ability to fight off infections. A whole catalog of evils that could be improved by simply using a television.

Scientists at the Mbadachusetts Institute of Technology in the US recently identified a "loneliness center" in the brain, a center known for its link to depression. You make the link.

Loneliness, especially among our elders, can also be a predictor of death.

It's not only devastating emotionally and psychologically, it's also physically debilitating.

Social isolation has become a public health problem.

Research conducted at the University of California, United States, with 1,604 participants, showed that more than 4 out of 10 people felt lonely and had higher rates of decreased mobility, greater difficulties to perform routine daily activities and more incidents of death more than those who did not feel isolated.

In the same study, it was shown that single people had more difficulty washing and getting dressed, using their arms and shoulders, climbing stairs and walking.

Unattached individuals, regardless of the number of friends and families around them, are 64% more likely to develop dementia than those who live alone but are not alone, as loneliness accelerates cognitive decline.

On the other hand, protecting the free television license could do wonders …