[Harumanbo Harucheonja] "Thank you, I love you" The 'Magic Spell' to Protect Parents' Brain Health During Seol Holiday

Stronger Family Bonds Linked to Lower Dementia Risk
Elderly Eating Alone Experience Faster Frailty
Close Family Love Also Protects Health

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Long-awaited reunions bring excitement. This is especially true now, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday without social distancing for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the recent traffic demand survey conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Transport Institute, the total number of people traveling nationwide for homecoming and returning between the 20th and 24th is estimated at 26.48 million. The average daily number of travelers is also expected to increase by 22.7% compared to last year’s Lunar New Year (4.32 million), reaching 5.3 million. This shows how much people have been longing to reunite with family members they could not visit due to COVID-19. The sight of families meeting face-to-face and sharing stories is a warmth that can only be felt during the holidays.

A strong family bond can protect brain health and slow down aging. [Image source=Pixabay]

Everyone knows that strong family bonds contribute to emotional stability. Families without significant conflicts feel joy, comfort, and security when together. However, it is less well known that these family ties, and more broadly social bonds, can protect brain health and slow aging by preventing dementia and other cognitive declines. This has already been medically proven. Elderly individuals who receive emotional support have significantly lower rates of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and aging progresses more slowly when they are not isolated at home or in society. Studies have also shown that elderly people who eat alone, so-called ‘honbap,’ tend to have poorer health indicators. The simple, yet often unspoken words “Thank you. I love you” can actually help prevent dementia and aging within our families.

Emotionally Supported Elderly Show Lower Dementia Incidence

Professor Kim Ki-woong, a leading dementia expert at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry, published meaningful research results last month. Along with Professor Oh Dae-jong from Kangbuk Samsung Hospital’s Corporate Mental Health Research Institute, he revealed that elderly people who do not receive sufficient emotional support such as empathy, understanding, and care from those around them have a higher risk of developing dementia. Social support is generally divided into two types: ‘emotional support,’ which involves receiving empathy and understanding from others, and ‘material support,’ which includes practical help with household chores, meals, medical care, and mobility. Typically, support from children or society focuses more on the latter, as some elderly individuals cannot manage basic daily activities without assistance.

Professor Kim Ki-woong, a leading expert on dementia and a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital. Professor Kim emphasizes that "emotional support" for the elderly greatly helps in preventing dementia.
[Photo by Bundang Seoul National University Hospital]

However, when Professor Kim’s team tracked and observed 5,852 Koreans aged 60 and older over eight years, the results regarding dementia were quite different. Material support did not have a significant impact on dementia incidence. In contrast, there was a substantial difference in dementia rates between elderly people who received emotional support and those who did not. The annual dementia incidence among those receiving sufficient emotional support was 9 per 1,000 people, whereas it was 15.1 per 1,000 among those lacking emotional support?a roughly 68% increase. This association was especially pronounced in women. The dementia incidence among women without emotional support was 18.4 per 1,000, 72% higher than the 10.7 per 1,000 rate among those with support. The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia, was 80% higher in women lacking emotional support.

This suggests that emotional empathy is more beneficial for protecting brain health than material assistance. Furthermore, it is expected to help guide how dementia prevention should be approached socially alongside family support. Professor Kim emphasized, “It is important to enable so-called ‘social families’?family members or related institutions working with socially isolated high-risk elderly?to systematically provide emotional support.”

Professor Kim particularly stresses the family’s role in dementia management. Since individuals with cognitive impairment may not easily recognize their condition, families need to pay close attention and seek early screening if abnormal symptoms appear, which can slow disease progression. He describes patients and caregivers who successfully manage dementia as fundamentally ‘positive.’ When family bonds are strong, dementia symptoms are detected earlier and treatment outcomes are better.

“Don’t Let Elderly Eat Alone”

Research addressing elderly health in more specific situations is also underway. According to a recent paper published in the international journal Experimental Gerontology by research teams from Samsung Seoul Hospital and Kyung Hee University Hospital, elderly people who eat alone show more severe frailty than those who eat with others. Frailty is defined as having three or more of the following five indicators in the lowest 20% of average values: weight loss, decreased muscle strength, extreme fatigue, slower walking speed, and reduced physical activity.

The research followed 2,072 individuals aged 70 to 84 who were not frail at the start, over two years. The risk of developing frailty was 61% higher in the group that shifted from eating with others to eating alone compared to those who continued eating with others. Notably, the risk of weight loss increased about threefold among those eating alone. Conversely, some frailty indicators improved in those who began eating with others after previously eating alone.

The researchers suggest that the increased frailty risk among elderly people eating alone is due to nutritional deficiencies, social isolation, and depression. They analyzed that depression arising from eating alone leads to nutritional deficiencies and isolation. The team explained, “The transition to eating alone significantly increased the risk of frailty in elderly individuals, and this association is mediated by depression. If you have parents who have gone from eating with others to eating alone, it is important to carefully observe whether they are experiencing depression, as this can help ensure a healthier old age.”

It goes without saying that nutritional deficiencies and frailty negatively affect brain health. Being deprived of emotional support inevitably leads to health deterioration. This Lunar New Year holiday presents another reason to reach out to family members a little more. For the sake of everyone’s brain health, why not hold your family’s hands and take a walk around your neighborhood?