Want good health in your golden years? Keep working

People who continue to work to some degree after retiring enjoy better physical and mental health, though potential benefits (and hazards) of specific career types were not measured.

(Credit: Trodel/Flickr)

If you're hoping to retire as soon as possible with the intention of never working again, you might want to reconsider. Retirees who transition from full-time work to full retirement in one fell swoop actually contract more diseases and function worse doing day-to-day tasks than those who continue to work even just temporarily or part-time, according to a national study published in the October issue of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.

"Choosing a suitable type of bridge employment will help retirees transition better into full retirement and in good physical and mental health," says co-author Kenneth Shultz, professor of psychology at California State University at San Bernardino. He suggests that employers worried about labor shortages due to so many baby boomers retiring might consider bridge employment options for their workers.

The researchers, whose study was sponsored by the National Institute of Aging, analyzed data from 12,189 participants in the national Health and Retirement Study who were 51 to 61 years old at the beginning of the study. Participants were interviewed every two years between 1992 and 1998 about health, finances, employment history, and other aspects of their lives, including whether they were still working or fully retired.

Even when controlling for baseline physical and mental health issues, retirees who chose to work to some degree experienced fewer functional limitations and diseases (i.e. heart disease, diabetes, psychiatric disorders, etc.) than those who retired fully. (Read full PDF here.)

Shultz tells me they haven't pinpointed actual percentage decreases, which would be difficult given the high number of variables, from age, gender, and location to personal wealth, hours worked, and the types of transitions. He did say that their research found that even when adjusting for previous health conditions and hours worked, those who continued to work in their same careers enjoyed the best overall health:

We controlled for health effects prior, so it wasn't previous health predicting it--it was actually engaging in bridge employment that seemed to be the bigger predictor. And if you were doing bridge employment in a different field, that adds more of an adaptation piece, so the beneficial effects of bridge employment started to decrease. It's still better than fully retiring, but not as beneficial as continuing in the same career field.

In addition to the stress that can result from lifestyle changes when a retiree switches careers, those who opt to switch careers had more financial problems to begin with, according to the paper's co-author, Mo Wang at the University of Maryland. Wang says that could have its own effect on anything from stress and diet to access to health care.

When I asked Shultz whether specific careers tended to develop healthier retirees, he said they weren't privy to career types so as to protect the anonymity of the study's participants. "That would be an interesting follow-up study--to dig deeper into specific occupations," he said.

[mudphud]

While they tried to control for it, it is easy to imagine people who keep working are in better health to begin with. Chicken or the egg. Is working longer better for you or do you keep working because you feel better?

[Random_Walk]

Meh - I always figured that retiring would be boring as hell. What do you do - sit around the house all day, or burn money at obscene rates while traveling everywhere, or...?

Screw that. I prefer working - at least I have a career that's actually enjoyable to me.

[cydcharisse6]

Baloney. The happiest day of my life was the day I realized I had the finances to stop working. That was 16 years ago, and at 70 yrs, I've never felt better.

By the way my 93 yr. old mother and her 95 yr. old husband quit working 40 years ago, and both still live in their own home, independently, with just occasional help.

[mudphud]

I don't know that work is the important part- staying mentally and physically active probably is. Since you're 70 and posting on CNET, I guess you have the mentally active part down.

[NewsReader_]

Was that a compliment?

Be careful suggesting that older people are not as mentally as capable as younger folks. There are a lot more young fools out there than old ones.

[mrcockrell]

They say 70 is the new 60

[mymacca]

it's more being able to contribute than anything else, keep the body working, keep the mind working. Always good to have a goal, and it does not have to be financial.

[dadsgravy]

********. **** you! Keep working slaves. It's great for your health. And if it isn't, I'm sure there's a pill for that.

[Lerianis3]

I don't think so! The fact is that the people I know who retired and are NOT working, but keep active social lives are the ones who are happiest and are the most healthy. In fact, some of the people who are 'still working' 20 or so hours a week are the LEAST HEALTHY of the bunch.

[inachu1]

"Keep working yes if you love your job."
Otherwise its a mantra of the corporate elite to say they want you to be part of the machine forever.