Abstract
The Coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected psychological wellbeing in older adults, with cases of depression, anxiety and loneliness rising in the general population. Cognitive health has also potentially been affected, as social isolation can lead to cognitive decline. Worrying about cognitive health can be damaging to psychological wellbeing and is especially relevant to explore in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic. The objective of the present study was to explore the associations between cognitive health worries and wellbeing, and to investigate whether physical activity and social contact can mitigate negative effects of the pandemic on psychological wellbeing. Older adults (N = 191) completed an online survey which included measures of cognitive health worries, depression, anxiety, loneliness, social isolation, fatigue, impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, quality of life, subjective vitality, and physical activity. Analyses indicated that cognitive health worries, lower levels of physical activity and smaller amounts of social interaction were associated with poorer psychological and physical wellbeing. Results showed that worrying about cognitive health is associated with poorer wellbeing, and so interventions are needed to encourage positive cognitive functioning in times of social isolation. Promoting physical activity and social interaction is also beneficial, as results show that exercise and social contact are linked with improved wellbeing.
Highlights
The ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound effect on peoples’ lives across the world
Our results showed that cognitive worries were significantly related to poorer psychological and physical wellbeing, while higher levels of physical activity and social contact were related to better wellbeing scores
Our results show that physical activity and social contact are related to better wellbeing scores, so guidelines and programmes that encourage physical activity with other people would be helpful to combat the negative effects of social isolation
Summary
The ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound effect on peoples’ lives across the world. Older adults in particular are more at risk of serious illness, further complications, and death as a result of COVID-19; over 65s account for more than 9 out of 10 COVID-19 related deaths in the United Kingdom (ONS, 2020a). Older adults were some of the first people to be advised to stay at home, “shielding” themselves from the disease. While this social isolation may have protected them from COVID-19, it directly disrupted activities that many older adults take part in, such as seeing family or friends, volunteering and everyday physical exercise routines. Shielding and social distancing has undoubtedly protected older adults from catching the virus, but the resulting social isolation has potentially harmed their physical and psychological wellbeing (Smith et al, 2020). Extended periods of isolation are known to harm cognitive health (Lara et al, 2019) and worrying about cognitive decline can be common in older populations (Bowen et al, 2019)
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