The Impact Of Loneliness At Christmas

For many of us, the festive season is a welcomed relief to what has been a very tough year. It’s a season where spending time with friends, family and loved ones is at the heart of the celebration. It’s hard to comprehend someone dreading the Christmas holidays, or feeling lonely during one of the most sociable months of the year, but it’s a reality that many people face. 

It's safe to say that loneliness is something that we’ve all been made aware off during our lives, but we may be less aware of how detrimental it can be to a person and their health. 

Campaign to End Loneliness believe loneliness is one of the largest health concerns, we face and is set to increase by 49% to two million people by 2025/26. This is a huge worry as studies have found that loneliness is likely to increase your risk of death by 26%. Age UK also found that 500,000 older people go at least 5 to 6 days a week without seeing or speaking to anyone at all.  

After they year we’ve had we could be set for a huge increase in the number of people that are feeling lonely at Christmas, people could be anxious to mix with other households after isolating for so long, you could have many that are dreading the thought of spending their first Christmas without a loved one and there may be some that find it hard coping in big social situations. 

So how can we help people feeling lonely at Christmas? 

One of the simplest ways you can help is simply by reaching out and letting the person know that you care, some people may find comfort if they have someone who wants to hear about what they're going through. Patience is also incredibly important, someone's mental health won’t change overnight, it’s important to understand that this is a long process, and it may take time before they want to tackle their loneliness.  

Age UK and The Campaign to End Loneliness have plenty of opportunities to volunteer or raise funds to ensure that far fewer spend Christmas alone, this includes welcoming those who are lonely into your house or donating to help centres that can welcome in those who are lonely over Christmas. 

If you’d like to learn about more mental health issues, The AIM Group run a number of free online mental health courses that can help you identify the signs, triggers and symptoms of mental health, as well as ways you can support people who are suffering.  

To learn more about our mental health courses CLICK HERE