Study: People Feel Ten Years Younger After Retirement
By: Amy Mearkle
Updated: November 9, 2009
LONDON, ENGLAND -- A new study finds people report feeling less well in years leading to retirement but feel dramatically better after they quit work.
The study by Swedish and British scientists took annual surveys of workers' self-rated health. They found between the year before retirement and the year after, people reported feeling 8 to 10 years younger after they walked away from the job.
Retirees continued to feel better through the 7 years the study followed them. One of the researchers, Hugo Westerlund of Stockholm University's stress research institute, says "our findings should cause concern for policy makers attempting to convince workers to stay longer in the workforce." The scientists say working conditions will have to be improved for older employees if governments and companies are ever going to persuade them to continue contributing to society and economic growth.
Populations of many countries are aging around the world and governments are moving to raise the age of retirement to try and deal with an explosion of costs for health and social services. Last month, Danish researchers released a study indicating more than half of the babies born in developed nations today will live to see their 100th birthday. The study is published in "The Lancet" medical journal.
(Copyright 2009 by VERTEXNews/Newsroom Solutions)
