Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay
by Women’s Brain Health Initiative:
RETIREMENT & BRAIN HEALTH.
Retirement was never for Sherry Baker. She landed her current job on her 71st birthday and continues to put in 50-hour work weeks at age 83 as the Executive Director of the BC Association of Community Response Networks.
“I was just really, really lucky that I was able to get a job that captured my imagination and my heart,” Baker told Mind Over Matter®.
Because she has worked in non-profits all her life, she did not have a pension, and could not really afford to retire. But she was never inclined to step back from work anyway. “Even if I did (have a pension), I’m pretty sure I would have found some kind of meaningful volunteer work.”
Baker is a living example of how to maintain brain health into old age. She rises at five every morning, exercises for an hour, reads the paper, and does a couple of crosswords before beginning her workday, a remarkable level of activity for a person of any age.
Although she has had two knee replacements and one hip replaced, she makes good use of virtual meetings to work from home and is on several advisory committees, including acting as Co-Chair of the Older Adult and Caregiver Advisory Committee for the national research network AGE-WELL, which supports the development of technology to assist older people live independently.
Baker knows many contemporaries who are struggling with cognitive issues and she credits her vitality to her active, engaged life.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure. There’s evidence now that I’ve read it helps to keep your brain active. I think you need more than that including regular exercise, but it does help to focus those brain cells where you want to be.”
Sherry Baker may be an exceptional case. Not many people choose to work into their 80s. But there is evidence that working past the typical retirement age can be beneficial for brain health.
On the flip side, several research studies suggest that early retirement can have a detrimental impact on cognition.
A 2021 article co-authored by Dr. Jo Mhairi Hale of the University of St Andrews in Scotland published in SSM - Population Health concluded that “postponing retirement is protective against cognitive decline.”
It drew upon a massive survey, the U.S. Health and Retirement Study, which has been running since the early 1990s and now has about 20,000 participants, that included people who undergo cognition tests on a regular basis. With such a large study group, Dr. Hale and her colleagues were able to consider a variety of variants, such as race, education levels, and whether their work was professional or non-professional.
The researchers also considered gender, hypothesizing that men of that generation would do worse in retirement, believing that they felt more closely identified with their work and had fewer established social networks than women.
“My grandpa, they had to pry the stethoscope out of his hand. He was not into retirement at all, and he didn’t do that well as a retired person. He wanted to keep working and some of that was about his identity,” Dr. Hale told Mind Over Matter®.
But when the researchers analyzed the data, the results were a surprise.
We actually found postponed retirement worked well for men and women. It’s protective regardless of educational level or occupation.
The question of retirement age is not only of interest to health researchers, it is a highly charged political issue. The United States is in the process of raising the statutory retirement age to 67 from 65, with proponents saying it is a logical step because people are remaining healthier as they age, and many are choosing to continue working past 65. Critics suggest that it amounts to a cut in social security benefits.
Dr. Hale is focusing on the science and understanding the implications for health. She notes that her study does not answer the question as to why levels of cognition are better for people who delay retirement.
“I’m just not willing to buy that it’s just about getting a paycheque. The public health message is that we need to stay cognitively and socially engaged,” Dr. Hale said.
Her next study is exploring more deeply the impact of social isolation and loneliness as they try to figure out what sorts of activities, like paid work, volunteering, or caring for grandkids, might be most beneficial for cognitive health.
Along with the impact on cognition, there is evidence that many people who retire early regret the decision. A June 2022 poll for Forbessurveyed more than 1,000 recent retirees. Thirty-two per cent said they wished that they had kept working longer. Another 32% said they did not feel prepared for retirement.
Dr. Patricia Heyn, Founding Director of the Center for Optimal Aging at Marymount University told Mind Over Matter® that it speaks to the need to develop a plan about how to remain active after stepping back from the many stimulations of work life.
“It can be very difficult, very emotional, and very stressful and you can feel very lost,” she said.
Dr. Heyn questions whether it is specifically the end of full-time work that contributes to cognitive decline. “I wouldn’t say early retirement per se is the factor, I would say it’s more the social determinants of health. Mostly it’s because when people retire, they decided that they want to be less engaged, less active,” she said.
BRAIN CELLS ARE LIKE MUSCLES. THEY’RE NOT GOING TO REMAIN STRONG IF YOU DON’T USE THEM.
Dr. Heyn suggested that employers could do more to develop programs that assist workers in navigating the transition to retirement. She believes that the whole subject of retirement needs more study to better understand the health and sociological implications.
While Sherry Baker’s work life is evolving, it is by no means ending. She is making preparations to step back from her executive director’s job in two years when she is 85 but plans to continue consulting. “Even if I’m not working at a set job, I hope to keep functioning until I’m 100. That’s my plan, and my family and friends think that I’ll go longer than that, but who knows.”