Earlier this year, Chinese researchers discovered a relationship between older adults eating alone and having depression. They published their findings in the academic journal BMC Geriatrics.
The researchers conducted their research on nearly 8,000 participants. They explored not only the association between eating alone and depression symptoms, but also such an association compared to living alone.
What they found was an inverse connection between the number of companions at mealtime and depressive symptoms. In other words, the fewer people an older adult eats with, the more likely they are to be depressed. It works the other way, too: the more people older adults eat with, the less likely they are to be depressed.
Interestingly, they also discovered that eating alone seems to have a stronger connection to increased depression than living alone does.
We’ve talked before about how talking to others and socializing can improve depression. This additional research out of China further strengthens the importance of having others in our lives to improve our mental health.