Retirement “can precipitate big changes in brain health, including an increased risk of cognitive decline and depression”, according to a recent New York Times article. Should I be worried? Should you?
Judge for yourself.
NYT article: “One analysis of more than 8,000 retirees in Europe found that people’s verbal memory (the ability to recall a set of words after a certain amount of time) generally declined faster once they retired, compared with when they were working.”
Yikes! That sounds alarming.
But here’s what the actual study says: “For early retirees retirement has beneficial effects on cognition, whereas for late retirees it has a detrimental effect in the long-run (that gets worse over time). . . . For the former, we find that retirement has positive short-term and no negative long-term effects on cognition; for the latter, retirement has strong negative cumulative effects.”
To summarize: If you retire when you can instead of when you have to, retirement is good for your brain.
What would you conclude from this? That “retirement” is bad for your brain? Or that retiring earlier is great for your brain while working until you have to stop is bad?
NYT article: “Research has also found a link between retirement and the onset of depression.”
Actual study: “Among older adults, retirees are more likely to experience depression compared to those who are still working.”
Uh oh.
BUT ALSO :
“While depression is common among older adults, it is not a normative part of aging or of retirement transitions. A systematic review by van der Heide et al found strong evidence that retirement may even be beneficial for mental health, including improved depressive symptoms and reduced antidepressant use.
“Recent studies by Syse et al, Gorry et al, and Xie also support this positive relationship. The improvement in depression following retirement could be due to decreased work-related stress, increased autonomy, or increased engagement in physical and social leisure activities.”
That sounds a lot better. What’s going on here?
Again, from the study: “According to Schlossberg’s model for analyzing adaptation to change, reactions to major events like retirement depend heavily on the nature of the transition (eg, whether it was planned and voluntary), whether people have access to resources to adapt to emotional and practical challenges of the transition (eg, government services, financial means, social network and engagement), and personal attributes (eg, age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, aspects of personality).”
In other words: If you can choose when to retire and are fortunate enough to have financial and social resources as a retiree, it seems you’re less at risk of depression.
And
“More than 50% of men and 30% of women ages 50+ who retired early reported that poor health, including depression, limited their ability to continue working. Health problems are a leading cause of early and involuntary retirements, and are associated with worse retirement satisfaction.”
In other words: If you like or need to work but can’t keep your job due to physical and/or mental health issues, you’re more likely to be depressed. And there are a lot of retirees like that.
Those are extremely important issues, and it’s excellent that studies are looking at problems among these retirees and what resources are needed to support them.
But problems among retirees with health problems so severe they can’t work aren’t necessarily applicable to those who were fortunate to be able to retire when they wanted with adequate financial and social support. It’s not “retirement” that’s the problem here.
I do agree with this article’s premise that there are things you can do to increase the chances of a happy retirement, though. This? 💯:
“Doing something creative and novel can give you a sense of purpose and keep your brain agile. Research suggests you can practice creativity just like any other skill, said Jonathan Schooler, a distinguished professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. That could mean writing for a few minutes every day or attempting an adventurous new recipe for dinner. Regular exercise is critical for brain health as you age, so you could also consider trying a new type of fitness class.
“Creativity can also boost a person’s sense of ‘meaning,’ Dr. Schooler added. ‘There is great evidence that finding meaning in life gives one a great personal satisfaction.’”
Yes!!!
But meaning and purpose shouldn’t be defined solely as “paid employment” – no matter how worthwhile your job.
“To fear retirement is to fear life,” writes Ernie J. Zelinski in ‘How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free’. “People all too often fear retirement because they focus on what they are giving up instead of what they are gaining.
“Instead of seeing retirement as something to be avoided at all costs, they should look at it as a phase of life that can be filled with joy, fun, challenge, excitement and satisfaction.”
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