DON'T RETIRE, it's BAD for your HEALTH? Financial & Retirement Planning UK

DON'T RETIRE, it's BAD for your HEALTH? Financial & Retirement Planning UK

You’ve worked hard for a number of years, all those work related stressors are gone, that defined structure to your day is gone and the effort of trying to fit in multiple tasks throughout the day is also gone. So what does the research say in terms of the impact this change has on your health and life expectancy given that retirement is ranked 10th on a list of life's most stressful events.

This is a complex area as it will impact on all of us slightly differently but generally speaking there will likely be some kind of significant shift. Loss of work related stress surely has to be a benefit to your health but losing the daily structure and the working relationships you had in place is harder to quantify.

A recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health investigated the association between the move to retirement and the risk of stroke and heart attack. They followed participants aged 50 and over who were in the paid workforce and free of major cardiovascular disease up to 10 years until they retired. After adjusting for a wide range of factors (age, sex, socio-economic status, behaviour), the researchers found that retirees were 40 per cent more likely to have had a heart attack or stroke than those who were still working at the same age. Which seems counter to what we would expect.

Nevertheless, as both the proportion of older people in communities and the length of life increase throughout the world, key questions arise. Will population ageing be accompanied by a longer period of good health, a sustained sense of wellbeing, and extended periods of social engagement and productivity? Or will it be associated with more illness, disability and dependency?

References:

World Health Organisation. (2011). Global health and aging. Bethesda, MD: WHO.

Hessel, P. (2016). Does retirement (really) lead to worse health among European men and women across all educational levels? Social Science & Medicine, 151, 19–26.

Eibich, P. (2015). Understanding the effect of retirement on health: Mechanisms and heterogeneity. Journal of Health Economics, 43, 1–12.

Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., & Layton, J. B. (2010). Social relationships and mortality risk: A meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine, 7(7), Article ID: e1000316.

Zhu, R. (2016). Retirement and its consequences for women’s health in Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 163, 117–125.

Helldán, A., Lallukka, T., Rahkonen, O., & Lahelma, E. (2012). Changes in healthy food habits after transition to old age retirement. European Journal of Public Health, 22, 582–586.

Dave, D., Rashad, I., & Spasojevic, J. (2008). The effects of retirement on physical and mental health outcomes. Southern Economic Journal, 75, 497–523.

Heybroek, L., Haynes, M., & Baxter, J. (2015). Life satisfaction and retirement in Australia: A longitudinal approach. Work, Aging and Retirement, 1, 166–180.

Sahlgren, G. H. (2013). Work longer, live. IEA Discussion Paper No. 46, Institute of Economic Affairs, UK.

Barbosa, L. M., Monteiro, L., & Giardini Murta, S. (2016). Retirement adjustment predictors: A systematic review. Work, Aging and Retirement, 2, 262–280.

Bamburger, P. A. (2015). Winding down and boozing up: The complex link between retirement and alcohol misuse. Work, Aging and Retirement, 1, 92–111.

Holdsworth, L., Hing, N., & Breen, H. (2012). Exploring women’s problem gambling: A review of the literature. International Gambling Studies, 12, 199–213.

Sjosten, N. M., Kivimaki, M., Singh-Manoux, A., & Vahtera, J. (2012). Change in physical activity and weight in relation to retirement: The French GAZEL Cohort Study. BMJ Open, 21.

Duberley, J., Carmichael, F., & Szmigin, I. (2014). Exploring women’s retirement: Continuity, context and career transition. Gender, Work and Organization, 21, 71–90.

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