Posted on 07/16/2013 12:00:11 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Workers who postpone retirement are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia known to affect the elderly than those who leave their jobs at age 60, a recent survey of nearly half a million European retirees shows.
The study looked at health and insurance records of more than 429,000 former workers in France and found that the risk of developing dementia declined with each additional year worked beyond an average retirement age, said Carole Dufouil, research director at INSERM, a French government agency in charge of the study.
“Our data show strong evidence of a significant decrease in the risk of developing dementia associated with older age at retirement, in line with the ‘use it or lose it’ hypothesis,” Dufouil said in a statement about the study. …
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
It stands to reason that keeping your brain busy would help an aging mind, however my dad stopped working at 80.
He was already slipping into dementia before that.
This is very poor scientific method. Correlation is not necessarily causation. Maybe older people who are free of dementia are the ones who, knowing this on some level, choose to stay active mentally and physically. I do believe that mental “exercise” probably helps 60+ people stay sharp.
TC
ping
Not to understate the complexity of Alzheimers disease, but the mind is like a muscle.
Good news for me, financially I’m on track to retire at age 90 or so...
“This is very poor scientific method. Correlation is not necessarily causation....”
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BINGO — especially with the words “not necessarily”.
I guess it depends on how one spends retirement. Someone who just sits around watching the idiot box is going to lose mental function, I suppose.
Yes, and I will say this - he definitely *chooses* to do and think very little. He used to get on the computer and communicate with message boards about music and politics and other things. He used to play poker online. All that slowed down quite a bit even before he stopped working his job.
He’s 86 now, lives with me and I have a hard time getting him to remember to flush the toilet and wash his hands among other things. He watches TV and leaves it on pretty much all the time, but he doesn’t care what’s on it. He sleeps a lot. I make sure he takes his blood thinner and gets to the doctor to regulate his dosage. He gets some enjoyment from playing bingo, so I take him to do that once a week or so. In the last 2 years since he’s been with me, he’s fallen and couldn’t get up 3 times.
I am grateful it’s not worse, though, as I definitely know it could be. I get aggravated sometimes and I even yell at him. (We’ve always been a loud family, anyway.) A few minutes later, he doesn’t remember. I have to remember the times where I fell and couldn’t get up and he was there.
pinging my loving husband who puts up with a helluva lot
Thanks to a bunch of 20 and 30 something MBAs, I was able to retire at 54. According to this study, I should be a raving lunatic.
Thanks, Roccus - and you are so right.
Get a baby monitor. It gave me the capacity to sleep, but awaken when Mom decided she wanted to take a stroll or do something other than sleep. You’d be amazed how quickly you can develope a “mother’s ear” for what comes over that device.
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