Retirement could be beneficial for your health by diminishing tiredness and fatigue, as well as reducing symptoms of depression, a recent report published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has found.
The study, headed by Dr. Hugo Westerlund from Stockholm University, studied a subset of retirement-aged participants from a French cohort study that had more than 11,000 men and 2,800 women.
Despite not affecting instances of chronic disease, retirement was “linked with a substantial decrease in both mental and physical fatigue ... [and] a smaller but significant decrease in depressive symptoms,” a press release on the BMJ website said.
All participants retired before the age of 64, and were followed for 7 years before retirement and 7 years after retirement.
After one year, retirement was associated with an 81 percent drop in mental fatigue and a 73 percent decrease in physical fatigue.
Doctors also found that retirement sliced the chances of depressive symptoms by 40 percent.
The study’s authors speculated that the health benefits of retirement could be due to more time for healthy activities, as well as the elimination of a stressful or unsatisfying job.
“If work is tiring for many older workers, the decrease in fatigue could simply reflect removal of the source of the problem ... furthermore, retirement may allow people more time to engage in stimulating and restorative activities, such as physical exercise,” the report wrote, according to the press statement.
The study, headed by Dr. Hugo Westerlund from Stockholm University, studied a subset of retirement-aged participants from a French cohort study that had more than 11,000 men and 2,800 women.
Despite not affecting instances of chronic disease, retirement was “linked with a substantial decrease in both mental and physical fatigue ... [and] a smaller but significant decrease in depressive symptoms,” a press release on the BMJ website said.
All participants retired before the age of 64, and were followed for 7 years before retirement and 7 years after retirement.
After one year, retirement was associated with an 81 percent drop in mental fatigue and a 73 percent decrease in physical fatigue.
Doctors also found that retirement sliced the chances of depressive symptoms by 40 percent.
The study’s authors speculated that the health benefits of retirement could be due to more time for healthy activities, as well as the elimination of a stressful or unsatisfying job.
“If work is tiring for many older workers, the decrease in fatigue could simply reflect removal of the source of the problem ... furthermore, retirement may allow people more time to engage in stimulating and restorative activities, such as physical exercise,” the report wrote, according to the press statement.
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