Since the early twentieth century life spans have increased dramatically and today a healthy 65 year old can expect to live to 90. As result many people are in no hurry to retire and would much rather continue working until they literally “drop”. Abigail Ireland, a performance strategist and founder of Understanding Performance discusses the pros and cons of working longer and whether or not it really is beneficial for our wellbeing.
Working beyond retirement age can keep you healthier, but a lot depends on what you are doing for work and how you connect to this on a personal level. It’s true that working keeps the brain active and promotes mental agility, but one could argue that there is a lot you can do in retired life that enables the same outcome. Hobbies, travel and learning for enjoyment can all serve this purpose.
However, if your work is a vocation for you and not just a job, the likelihood is that the deep sense of purpose and meaning can be so worthwhile that you don’t ever want to stop doing what you do. If you truly love your work, it makes sense that it will energise, motivate and inspire you. It can be so intertwined with your identity, that the separation between who you are and what you do is blurred, and losing one aspect through retirement means you lose a part of what makes you the person you are.
In 2016 The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health published the findings of an eighteen year study of around 3000 people which found that working even one more year beyond retirement age was associated with a 9-11% lower risk of dying regardless of health.
Nicole Maestas, a professor of health care policy at the Harvard Medical School says “Research on how working affects health is mixed, but tends towards the positive – that is, for many people there are health benefits to working longer.”
When our work makes us happy, fulfilled and needed, it will work wonders for our mental health and wellbeing. We want to go the extra mile, we don’t feel like we’re working, we get up the next day excited to go again, and we thrive.
On the other hand, if work is something we feel we have to do or need to do, it’s likely that the opposite is true. We dread Monday mornings, we get frustrated by the time we spend at the office, we miss out on things we value in life, we experience chronic stress… and as a result, we “can’t wait for the day we retire and can start enjoying our lives”. Being unhappy, stressed and trapped in working situations we don’t love may mean we suffer psychological or physiological consequences as a result.
In truth, the best advice (but not always easy) is to aim to do work that we don’t want to retire from. Ideally we shouldn’t be waiting for retirement. Work is part of our life journey and the more we enjoy and embrace it, the more value it will add to our health and wellbeing.
Featured image by SHVETS production on pexels
