Being healthy is important
As you age, your health naturally deteriorates and it becomes important to take measures to manage your health. These measure can include diet monitoring, exercise, regular doctor checkups and quitting smoking. Surprisingly, one of those measures to keep yourself healthy may be to not retire. According to research, continuing your work into your later years can keep you healthy.
Retirement and Physical Health
Researchers at the University of Miami studied over 83,000 Americans over 65 years of age. Their findings showed that unemployment was linked with poor health. The study, based on government data from 1997 to 2011, found this information to be true even after controlling for poor health predictors such as obesity and a history of smoking.
This study also found that the most physically demanding jobs were most likely to keep workers healthier. It can reduce the risk of chronic conditions that may limit their functions. This finding shouldn’t be surprising, as sitting for 8 to 12 hours per day can increase your risk of type 2 diabetes by 90{bc669dfb3651bb8509a96034cbe7494d3a811fc0eedf0ddccb239fb9cb737439} and is associated with a slew of health problems. While blue-collar workers run greater risks of on-the-job injuries, these risks are less of a threat and sedentary lifestyle.
This information may be a bit misleading; however because one of the requirements for older blue-collar workers to stay in their positions is to be in good health, whereas sedentary white-collar workers can stay in the job despite health issues.
Your Mental and Emotional Well-Being and Retirement
The health benefits may extend beyond the physical, as well.
Many studies show that keeping your mind alert and active is important to healthy aging, and can stave off dementia and cognitive impairments. Keeping your mind busy can also decrease your risk of Alzheimer’s. Working isn’t the only way to keep your mental functioning sharp; websites such as lumosity.com and fitbrains.com offer games and cognitive activities to help improve mental functioning.
Working into old age can also help battle depression. A lot of retirees find themselves depressed once they leave the workforce. A large reason for this is the lack of social interaction. Social interaction – particularly in an encouraging and positive work environment – can alleviate depression.
Social contact and maintaining a structured schedule can help keep retiree’s spirits up, joining a group activity may be the best way to not only keep positive but can have the dual benefit of improving your brain function.
You can certainly maintain this throughout retirement, but keep in mind that it may be difficult at first to maintain a structured schedule.
Remaining in the workforce may also be able to keep you healthier for a simple practical reason: health insurance. A lot of workers find that their health coverage while employed surpasses coverage offered by Medicare and Medicaid. For more information on health insurance options available to you during your retired years, check out this article!
Bottom Line
When you retire is up to you. The average age of retirement in the United States is 67 years old. But, you should not feel like you have to retire at that age. Both during retirement and while you’re employed, it is important to be proactive and take measures to ensure your mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.
These findings are important because they can help the workforce figure out ways to accommodate older employees and may give you more time to save for retirement. It is also important to note how your retirement will impact more than your finances so that you can accurately plan for your later years.
