Mary Kenny
We all grow a little more forgetful with the passing of the years, and it is well-established that the ageing brain experiences some cognitive deterioration. But there are ways to mitigate this process, namely: activity, nutrition, and social and intellectual stimulation.
And, I regret to say that over the past six months of the Covid restrictions, I have noticed a certain amount of cognitive deterioration amongst some older people. (Perhaps they have observed a parallel decline with me: I am not judging, only describing.)
Restrictions
So I posted message to this effect on Twitter earlier this week: “What really worries me about further Covid restrictions is the impact on the cognitive powers of older people.” I wrote: “Oldsters are more prone to dementia with a lack of social interaction.” This elicited hundreds of responses from many people who had observed mental decline among older family members over the past six months.
Mike Bootoon wrote: “Both my parents have mentally gone downhill since March. The closing of the churches hit my mum the worst, she’d gone to church to interact, sing and feel uplifted every week for all her 85 years. Now she’s suffering from severe dementia. This crisis kills in other ways.”
DJT2020 responded: “I totally agree. I have seen my mom decline over the last six months. It is heartbreaking.”
Marcos (his hashtag) wrote: “You are 100% correct, not only my grandmother but mother grandmother-in-law as well are currently showing a large trend in short-term memory loss, all directedly related in the social deterrence caused by Covid 19.”
Maggie Buck commented: “You’re right – no visitors is hard. Have not hugged my grandchildren in six months and it tears at my soul.”
Paddy McKenna: “Covid-19 depression is now a huge issue among our older population.”
From ‘Carolina RWB’: “Absolutely devastating what this is doing to older people.”
Oldsters also need the Church, as part of a living congregation”
Catherine Bockett: “Those in nursing homes are suffering from deprivation of touch, lack of stimulation and conversation and are being prevented from seeing their loved ones.”
And many, many more messages came, making similar points about how older people are declining, mentally, because of lack of social contact and the stimulus of interaction. Chris Byrne wrote he had friends over 70 who “are really afraid to go outside their front door”.
It scarcely needs repeating that we all understand that sensible precautions need to be taken to reduce the spread of the infection. But it’s the constant message to “reduce social contact” which is having such a devastating effect on the health, and the very soul, of older people. The message might as well be: “Go shut yourself off from humanity.”
Oldsters are seldom inclined to join rave parties, or to go to crowded pubs. They don’t even visit restaurants that often. But they do need continuing social contact and stimulus. They also need the Church, as part of a living congregation. (There’s considerable research by Pew pollsters that older people who attend church live longer, are more intellectually lively and have better social relations – even leaving aside the spiritual benefits.)
We really need to address this problem, especially since the present emergency could last for another six or nine months. How do we halt elderly isolation, which is proven to lead to more dementia and loss of cognitive abilities?
Otherwise, as ‘An Spailpín Fanach’ wrote: “We could end up in a situation where the cure will be worse than the disease.”
Perhaps change is afoot…
I mentioned last week that Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds had their four-month-old son Wilfred baptised at Westminster Cathedral in mid-September.
Boris’s godmother is Lady Rachel Billington, née Packenham, and the daughter of the late Lord Longford and his wife Elizabeth. Rachel is an old friend of Boris’s mother, the painter Charlotte Johnson Wahl, and so, in 1964, Rachel became Boris’s godmother, at his own Catholic baptism.
Rachel, who is a fine writer, and very much a person of faith has kept a godmotherly eye on Boris through all the decades since.
Although I think few would claim that her godson has led a life of edifying Christian virtue, Rachel is still very pleased that he has “returned to the church”, even if only for the christening of baby Wilfred. It’s altogether a good sign, she believes.
People in Britain say that “Boris has changed”, since he was himself ill with Covid-19 in the spring. But perhaps Carrie is also changing him in other ways too…
Pope’s wise words
According to the authoritative Center for Disease Control in the US, 99% of younger people recover from Covid-19, and 90% of people over 70 also recover. This is not to diminish the pandemic’s nastiness, but it is a perspective.
Perhaps now is the time to recall Pope St John Paul II’s favourite quotation, from the gospel of Luke: “Do not be afraid.”