Meditation training and non-native language training both reduce older adults loneliness in the age-well randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Abstract Loneliness is a key predictor for mortality and a risk factor for dementia. Meditation training appears to be a promising intervention for loneliness in older adults, but long-term randomized controlled trials with an active control group are scarce. To fill this gap, this secondary analysis of the three-armed clinical randomized controlled Age-Well trial compares the impact of an 18-month meditation training to an 18-month non-native language training, and a passive control group on self-reports of loneliness and post-training reactions to experimentally induced social exclusion in 137 cognitively unimpaired community-dwelling older adults (age ≥ 65 years). Multilevel models revealed that both interventions reduced loneliness from pre- to post-intervention compared to the no-intervention group. No group differences were observed regarding self-reported emotional reactions to social exclusion. Taken together, our results suggest that sharing regular activities with the same group of persons for a long period reduces older adults’ loneliness.