How connecting elders with young people can combat the loneliness epidemic

04:04 |

by Brittney Melton

November 17, 2024

Good morning. This week, three new inductees joined The National Toy Hall of Fame, an American warship sunk by Japanese forces in World War II was found, and a new CDC report showed a dramatic drop in U.S. overdose deaths.

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Friendship knows no bounds. Connections can be made with anyone and at any age. A nonprofit organization named Dorot, which is Hebrew for the word "generations," harnesses this sentiment with its mission. For decades it has worked to pair older people and younger people together to benefit both.

Two people sit on a bench outside in a wooded area.

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Dorot's mission has a new sense of urgency due to an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, which was exacerbated by the pandemic. Loneliness can harm a person’s individual and societal health, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote in an advisory report.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was easy for me to feel alone. Sometimes it felt like I was the only person in my city. I lived alone. When I went to the office to work, I sat in a room alone. Even when I went shopping for groceries, the stores felt eerily quiet. My experience with this feeling of isolation is just a glimpse into many peoples’ everyday lives.

Just a few months ago, 82-year-old Andrea Levitt and 16-year-old Angelo Williams met for the first time after using Dorot. She was feeling down as she lives alone. Her son and family moved away in recent years. Levitt and Williams hit it off, bonding over basketball.

Levitt says despite the age gap she finds that she has things in common with young people and they have really good conversations. Dorot is one of a growing number of organizations that are working to foster these relationships in efforts to create lasting bonds and fight off loneliness. The relationships also have other benefits, especially with teens. Read more about the work organizations like Dorot are doing here.

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The Week That Was

Pedestrians walk along a road engulfed in thick smog in Lahore, Pakistan, on Nov. 11.

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This week, thick, toxic smog shut down Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, which is home to over 14 million people. The smog can be seen from space, UNICEF's representative in Pakistan, Abdullah Fadil said. Authorities have cracked down on sources of pollution in an effort to help. NPR spoke with Ahmad Rafay Alam, an environmental lawyer in the city, who says the city is unliveable and the news reports of the rising levels of air pollution are painful. He discusses the causes behind the smog, solutions for this issue and what it is like for him to live there.

People in their 20s, 30s and 40s have often been overlooked when it comes to cancer research and support, CEO of Stupid Cancer Alison Silberman says. Since they have so much life left to live, their needs are greater and more complex, she says Cancer is an increasingly treatable disease. But as more young people survive cancer, experts worry there's not enough attention given to how their lives are affected after they're no longer undergoing treatment. Some questions include whether to preserve fertility and how to budget for out-of-pocket expenses of aftercare. Lourdes Monje is navigating that journey now at age 29.

Birds descended from dinosaurs, but researchers have known relatively little about how their brains took shape over millions of years. Now, a newly discovered fossil sheds light on that mystery. Researchers were able to CT scan the delicate skull of a species named Navaornis hestiae, allowing the team to digitally reconstruct its brain.

Participating in online yoga classes has proved beneficial in relieving chronic low back pain and slashed the need for pain-relief medications, a new study shows. People with back pain who took 12 weeks of virtual live-streamed classes also had improved sleep. Previous studies have shown that Americans spend around $135 billion a year on treatment for lower back pain and about 80% of adults suffer from it.

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