Combating Summer Loneliness: The ‘Celebrate Summer Together’ Campaign

2023-06-19 08:00:01

For many people, summer is a beautiful and richly filled period, but that does not apply to everyone. The summer period is a particularly difficult time for the elderly. That’s why a campaign against loneliness is starting today: “You celebrate summer together.”

One of the people suffering from summer loneliness is 90-year-old Lucie. Since her husband can no longer live at home due to his illness, she has been home alone.

No drama in the summer

But with activities such as the theater society, she prevents herself from becoming too lonely. “This year I had the role of a forest ranger,” she says proudly. “I get a lot of pleasure out of it and it prevents me from getting sick. But drama classes stop in the summer. People go on vacation and it gets quiet on the street.”

And then it’s hard to keep yourself busy, she says. “If I’m lonely for too long, I’ll feel my body. Then I’ll suffer from ailments and I’ll die.”

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Campaign

Lucie isn’t the only one struggling like this. “More than half of the over-75s regularly feel lonely, especially in the summer,” says Babs van Geel of Stichting Met Je Hart. “That’s more than 700 thousand people. And if we don’t change anything, this number could rise to 1.1 million in 2030.”

Precisely because summer loneliness is such a long period, Van Geel thinks it is important that more attention is paid to it. The ‘Celebrate Summer Together’ campaign aims to make people more aware of this form of loneliness.

Summer loneliness blind spot

“Everyone knows the loneliness at Christmas. Supermarket commercials always focus on looking after lonely people in society. But summer loneliness is still a bit of a blind spot,” explains Van Geel.

“While it is a much longer period than the Christmas period. So the health damage is therefore also greater. Loneliness really makes you sick: it promotes depression, weakens the immune system and increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and dementia.”

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Big consequences

Professor of clinical neuropsychology Margriet Sitskoorn of Tilburg University also sees this. The fact that people can become ill from loneliness has to do with the pain system, she explains.

“This system is not only stimulated when you get hit or kicked, but it is also stimulated when you are lonely. So that gives a very unpleasant feeling. So loneliness can actually cause physical problems.”

Also affects society

“Not only the elderly are affected by this, but also society as a whole,” says Sitskoorn. It can benefit both the elderly and the people who look after them.

“Getting people out of loneliness ensures that healthcare costs go down. But it also ensures that not only does the person who is taken out of loneliness feel better, but the person who does so will also feel better.”

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“Talk to that neighbor sometime”

So there is really room for the environment to do something, says Van Geel. “Look around more, speak to that neighbor, take a detour. So the little moments of attention that really make the difference for these beautiful people. They deserve it, they are so worth it.”

So is Tibbe (12). He lives near the 90-year-old Lucie and regularly visits her with his father. “I find old people very nice and interesting. When I found out that Lucie was alone a lot, I went with my father.”

Eating ice cream

Tibbe finds it very sad that people are so lonely ‘that their only visit to the door is the postman’. “It’s very easy to do something about that. Just by dropping by, with an ice cream for example.”

Lucie is very happy that people like Tibbe and his father look after her. “Eating an ice cream together tastes much better. Moments like this make me feel really happy. I want to go ahead for a while.”

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