Use it or Lose it

“Use it or Lose it”
The importance of mental health in retirement

Retirement is a time to relax, but it is also an opportunity to achieve some of the things that you may have always aspired to reach. Over the years, I have seen countless examples of retirees who started new businesses or had completed their education.

Their idea of staying active had gone far beyond simply completing the crossword every weekend or surfing the Internet for news. By the way, those activities are still very valuable in maintaining your interest in life. However, a lot of retirees who had always been mentally active in their lives or because of the demands of their jobs have found that they crave mental challenge once they retire.

Healthy aging and your mental outlook in retirement

Longevity studies suggest that there is a direct correlation between mental alertness or acuity and life span. People who continued to exercise their minds live longer on average than those who do not.

One prominent German study found that mental health in seniors was actually a better predictor of life expectancy for people over 65 than physical health risks such as smoking, weight or fitness.

Those retirees who exercise their minds as a way to feel like they are active, engaged and still vital also experience a sense of happiness and optimism about the future.

In fact, Dr. Laura Carstensen at the Stanford Center for Longevity found that seniors tended to be happier than younger subjects because they focused more on achieving mental and emotional well being at their stage in life.

One of the interesting studies that I looked at regarding mental health had to do with the effect on mental health for early retirees versus those who retired later. Research conducted in Australia found that retired British and Australian men below the conventional retirement age of 65 are more likely to have mental health problems relative to their working peers, and retirees above this age.

The evidence linking positive mental health to longevity, self-esteem and optimism in retirees is in fact extensive. It appears that retirees have the ability to “kill themselves physically by killing themselves mentally!”

Exercising your mind in retirement

As you think about your plan for the future, how important is it for you to continue to exercise your mind, and how do you expect to accomplish that? Are there some things that you might do in retirement to continue to strengthen the connections in your mind?

Here are some good ways for you to stay mentally involved and active once you decide to leave the workplace:

1. Stay in touch with the latest research, trends, products or ideas in the profession that you retired from. You have put a lot of years into your career and it is often a good thing to maintain contact with the business and the people. For younger retirees, this may lead to a consulting contract or a new business opportunity if they are open to that. For others, maintaining interest in their profession can extend their social network and provide other networking opportunities.

2. Find ways to replace the things you liked about work in your retirement. If you liked to create things in your job or share ideas with others, there are many outlets in your retirement where you can continue to get the same satisfaction. Contributing your time to a charity, working on a project or committee or even working part-time may give you that workplace replacement that will keep you sharp.

3. Take a course or expand your education. You don’t necessarily have to become a full-time student and you can even add to your education on-line if you choose. (By the way, improving your computer skills might be a great place to start if you haven’t been an active computer user in your work career!). One of the advantages of pursuing education in retirement is that it may also expand your social network.

4. Practice daily meditation. Daily meditation is perhaps the single greatest thing you can do to improve both your mental and physical health. Not only does this relax you, but it can help you exercise your mind as your go over your plans, think about your past, present or future or simply day dream. There are many ways to meditate and in retirement this can be a valuable way for you to remain focused on your life goals and the things that are important to you.

5. Learn a new skill. Is there something that you always wanted to do or a hobby that you might have pursued if you had more time? Think about the kinds of things that you are good at and how you might develop your interest when you have the opportunity. You are never too old to learn something new and you just might find something that takes your retirement in a new direction that you didn’t expect!

6. Turn off the TV and read more. I am not saying that you shouldn’t watch television, but you also don’t want your TV to become your only contact with the outside world or a way to pass the time. In your work career, you may not have had the time that you needed to read the kinds of things that interested you. In retirement, you have control over what you want to read—try for some balance between fiction and non-fiction. This is a great way to exercise your mind, create new interests and generally tie in a lot of the things that I mentioned earlier in this article.

7. Don’t forget the value of good conversation. You have stories to tell and lots of people to tell them to. In retirement you also want to expand your social network so take every opportunity that you can to engage others both young and old in a conversation. Again, you can learn a lot about people and life but you can also share some of the things that you know and think about. This will help you remain vital and engaged and keep your mind sharp and focused!



At ScotiaMcLeod, we understand that wealth transcends money and represents the things in life that we would like to accomplish. As a Wealth Advisor, I work closely with my clients to help them create a clear vision of their retirement and then a financial strategy that is aligned with those goals. I think it would be beneficial for us to meet and discuss how we can work together to make sure you get the most out of this next stage of your life.