For some people, particularly
those retiring into the Independent Phase, retirement can lead to an
improvement in physical health.
While early
retirement for reasons of poor health is associated with declines in physical
health and health generally declines with age, some people experience an
improvement in physical health immediately following retirement. This is
particularly true for those who retire into the Independent Phase. For these
people, planned and voluntary, in some cases early, retirement can result in
improved physical health levels, with these improvements typically ascribed to
better health behaviours and relief from work-related strain.
Jobs that are stressful or physically demanding can have a negative
effect on health, leading to an improvement in health as a result of later
life. However, if work and related activities are one of the primary forms of
physical activity for an individual, their health is likely to decline after
retirement, unless they make appropriate adjustments. Those in the Independent
Phase, with minimal health issues and full physical functionality, are best
positioned to make necessary adjustments, compared to those in the Decline or
Dependent Phases may be limited by their existing health conditions.
Approaches to health and physical activity at the point of later life can
impact health trajectories over the course of later
life although some health issues will be unavoidable.
Some people change their health behaviours at retirement, while others
don’t. Those who don’t change except that Retirement will make little
difference to their health concerns. These are people who have changed their
health behaviours before retirement. Some of those have already made
substantive changes to their health behaviours prior to retiring, often in
response to specific health issues. Then there are those people who don’t
intend to change their health behaviours at retirement because they are happy
to continue existing patterns of behaviour, out of habit or enjoyment, whether
because their behaviour is already healthy or regardless of health advice.
Then there are those people who see retirement as a time for a change in
the way they approach their own health. These people expect retirement to be
more active than working. They see a direct link between work and specific
negative health behaviours and expect retirement to alleviate health problems
and improve health practices. These folks use retirement as a chance to make
changes and believe that there is a link between increased leisure and specific
health behaviours and so expect a positive change in retirement. The final
group are people who expect retirement to be less active than working life,
they see a direct link between retirement and potentially negative behaviours
and plan to actively address these.
Which group are you in?
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