There is a thin line between the deserved rest and the cognitive deterioration. Careful planning is essential to remain healthy.
For the millions of Americans who retire every year, stop working may seem a well -deserved rest. However, this can also precipitate great changes in brain health, including a greater risk of cognitive impression and depression.
Before retirement, you get up in the morning, live with your colleagues and face the mental challenges of your work, said Ross Andel, a professor at Arizona State University, who studies cognitive aging and retirement. “Suddenly, after 50 years, you lose that routine.”
There is the idea that the body and brain adapt when “they are no longer necessary,” he added. “That is when you see the deterioration and its natural response to inactivity.”
Subscriber content
However, retirement can also be an opportunity to improve cognitive and mental health, having newly released time to socialize and devote itself to hobbies. And even if you have begun to experience some deterioration, there are solid evidence that your brain can recover from periods of inactivity, even at an advanced age, said Giacomo Pasini, professor of Econometry at the University of Venice Ca ‘Foscari, who studies the impact of economic policy on the mental health of the elderly.
The deterioration of cognition and mood
An analysis of more than 8000 retirees in Europe He discovered that people’s verbal memory (the ability to remember a set of words after some time) in general deteriorated more quickly after retirement, compared to when they worked. Other Survey in England He showed a marked decrease in verbal memory after retirement, although other capacities, such as abstract reasoning, were not affected.
“There are some indications that retirement could be bad for cognition, because when you retire, your brain no longer faces so many challenges,” said Guglielmo Weber, professor of Econometry at the University of Padua, Italy, who worked in the European study.
Research They have also discovered a relationship between retirement and the appearance of depression. Suddenly moving from a “busy working life to the lack of activity can exacerbate the feelings of uselessness, under mood, sadness” as well as “serious depressive symptoms and memory loss,” said Xi Chen, an associate professor of public health at Yale University, who studies aging.
The nature of your work – and the way you see that work – seems to affect the risk of deterioration. For example, researchers believe that those used to work in higher rank jobs can show a more marked deterioration than other people, possibly because their identities were much more linked to their careers, Chen said.
The study in Europe also discovered that the people who stopped working before the standard retirement age of the place where they lived showed a lower deterioration than those who stopped working later, Weber said. This could be due to the fact that the work of those who retired before could not have been so demanding for their mind, which resulted in a more gradual deterioration after retirement.
People who are forced to retire “due to health problems or a clear age”, or who face economic difficulties during retirement, may experience more serious effects, said Emily Fiesler, an attached teacher at Weill Cornell Medicine specialized in geriatric care.
And women could be less likely to experience a pronounced mental or cognitive impairment, perhaps because they are more likely than men to continue socializing and take time with the family After retirement, Weber said.
The value of having a plan
Retirement can be an opportunity for growth instead of deterioration, experts said. The key is to lay some bases in advance.
Do not wait for retirement to plan retirement
“The plan cannot be: ‘I have worked so much for so long that I’m going to take this long vacation and then I will see what I do,” Andel said.
The ideal would be to incorporate new routines that are mentally and physically attractive since a couple of years before stopping working, said Alison Moore, head of the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care of the University of California in San Diego. Although you do not implement them immediately, you should do the plan in advance. Postpone those decisions – you are going to spend half a year traveling, for example – until after having retired it makes you more difficult to launch, he said.
The goal is to “move from one type of daily life to another,” he said. “Being open to new experiences before making this great change of life can somehow prepare.”
Find a new sense of purpose
“Some people could have felt that their purpose was to contribute through work, and when they lose that, they have to invent something else to occupy that place,” said John Beard, professor of productive aging at the Medical Center of the University of Columbia. Studies suggest that people with a sense of purpose tend to Experience less Cognitive deterioration related to age.
Voluntary work, in particular, It can serveChen said. Research has discovered that people who volunteer regularly during retirement have slower rates of biological agingand can avoid cognitive deterioration by staying active and participatory (without the stress of full -time employment).
Commit to remain sociable
It is common for people to lose social ties during retirement, said David Richter, professor of research studies in the Department of Education and Psychology Sciences of the Free University of Berlin. “We have quite solid evidence that first social contacts decrease And then cognition deteriorates, ”he said.
To avoid depression, cognitive deterioration and Premature mortality They can accompany to social isolationRichter recommended that retirees replace socialization at work with routine meetings in person or virtual.
Not all social activities are the same, he added. The best are those that represent a challenge for your mind and encourage significant debates with other people; For example, reading clubs.
“It is not the same to listen to the radio, watch television,” he said. “We really need to come and go from a conversation.”
Try new things
Doing something creative and novel can give you a sense of purpose and maintain your agile brain. Research suggests that creativity can be practiced like any other skill, said Jonathan Schooler, a leading professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of California in Santa Barbara. That could be done by writing for a few minutes every day or trying to prepare a daring and new recipe for dinner. As one ages, regular exercise is fundamental to brain healthso you could also consider the possibility of testing a new type of physical conditioning class.
Creativity can also stimulate the sense of purpose of a person, adds Schooler. “There are overwhelming evidence that finding meaning in life provides great personal satisfaction.”