id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-337606-x7v26xrj	Vernooij-Dassen, Myrra	The risks of social distancing for older adults: a call to balance	2020-06-24		.txt	text/plain	1558	88	48	While social distancing can protect and save lives, its deleterious effects on older individuals need also to be recognized and minimized in order to preserve their quality of life to the extent possible. Social distancing deprives older adults from direct interaction with their social environment and thereby disturbs the potential of social health to preserve their quality of life. The social capacities of older adults and the response of their social environment are powerful means to adapt to challenging situation such as a pandemic by social interactions stimulating mental health and cognitive functioning. However, being disconnected from loved ones and people giving pleasure and meaning to life constitutes an additional risk and makes older adults more vulnerable to loneliness and to deterioration of mental and cognitive functioning. In this commentary, we review the impact of social distancing on mental and social health and on cognitive functioning and describe practical strategies to counteract the adverse effects of social distancing on older individuals.	./cache/cord-337606-x7v26xrj.txt	./txt/cord-337606-x7v26xrj.txt