Pension and health
At what age is it optimal to retire
Tatiana Pichugina
Scientists have been discussing the so-called concept of successful aging for decades and trying to answer the question of when to go on a well-deserved rest. What conclusions they came to – in the material of RIA Novosti.
Of about a thousand pensioners surveyed, 68.8 percent admitted that they want to work. Moreover, 70 percent of them referred not to material, but to spiritual incentives: the need to work, passion for the profession, the desire to be in a team, to feel useful.
These are the results of a survey conducted in the 1980s. The survey was conducted by Associate Professor of the Faculty of Psychology of LSU Maria Alexandrova among pensioners 55-69 years old who lived in rural areas of Leningrad and Tver region. By that time, these problems had been studied in the USSR for almost half a century. Scientists understood: humanity is aging. The possibility of raising the retirement age to 65 for men and 60 for women was discussed. By the way, in Alexandrova's study, 26.2 percent of respondents admitted to being afraid of such a prospect, declared their unwillingness to work.
In the USSR, in the middle of the last century, they developed the concept of active aging, saw the labor reserve in the older generation, studied how able-bodied pensioners were. In Soviet science, the idea that work prolongs life prevailed. A special direction of research has been formed – gerohygen, dedicated to the conditions that ensure high-quality aging.
Asset or liability?
The World Economic Forum in its reports notes the risk of not coping with the management of aging humanity (this, by the way, is a direct consequence of an increase in life expectancy). Some economists predict negative consequences. For example, if the share of the elderly continues to grow, this will lead to stagnation of the global economy.
Is it possible to avoid a pessimistic scenario? Many people are thinking about this. Economist Alexander Auzan believes that age should be considered as an asset, not a liability. And that a country that manages to find an unusual job for people over eighty will become a world leader.
"Now abroad they are discussing raising the retirement age for creative professions, for example, in the field of medicine, education, culture, government. These specialists can work as much as possible as long as they are effective. It is unprofitable for the state to hinder their activities. In the Russian Academy of Sciences, the average age is 75-76 years. Formally, they are pensioners, but they work and benefit the motherland. I consider the age restriction to be discrimination," Vladimir Khavinson, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, comments to RIA Novosti.
According to him, it is more reasonable to limit labor activity not by age, but by health status, disability. Perhaps it will all come to this.
"A person must do something necessarily. Creativity of older people should be supported as much as possible. Another thing is that a pensioner can change the type of activity. Many people have hobbies, why not turn it into a second profession? We need to develop clubs and clubs with access to the economic space," the scientist says.
Survival period, aging rate
A lot of research is devoted to how termination of employment affects health. By default, it was believed that a well-deserved rest would benefit a person. However, now there is more and more completely different data.
A study of more than 600,000 workers in Denmark over the age of sixty showed that those who continued to work had a lower risk of myocardial infarction than pensioners. American scientists have similar results.
Among those employees of the Shell petrochemical company who retired early – at 55 or 60 years old, the mortality rate is much higher than among their peers who continued their careers.
According to Vladimir Khavinson, scientists at the Military Medical Academy in the 1980s found that those who retired early had a shorter life span. However, it is premature to draw global conclusions from all this.
"It is necessary to understand very carefully: which group of pensioners, what living conditions, income. It is believed that with an increase in income, life expectancy increases. If the population is poor, life is shorter. There is a corresponding formula. For example, in Singapore, income is 55 thousand dollars per capita, in the USA – 53 thousand. The standard of living is connected with this. The retirement age there is 62-65 years, by the way, men and women have the same," the scientist explains.
Contradictory results were obtained in Germany. Based on the analysis of data on several tens of thousands who went on a well-deserved rest in 50-65 years, since 1990, an increased mortality rate was revealed in those who retired early. Nevertheless, early retirement serves as a salvation for people with poor health, scientists conclude. In addition, they noted that termination of employment is less traumatic for married people than single ones. However, male mortality increases in all pension categories, regardless of family and social status.
Observations of civil servants in London for 15 years – since 1991 – suggest that mental and physical health depends on the age and reason for retirement, as well as the duration of well-deserved rest. A state pension at the age of 60 and an early retirement at their own request have a positive effect on health.
Diseases and depression are piling up
Depression is one of the main factors of disability in the world. Moreover, pensioners are at risk. There are several reasons: stressful situations, serious illness, bad habits, loneliness, reduced income and social status.
For example, in Denmark, the leader in Europe in the number of prescriptions for antidepressants, pensioners are prescribed them especially often. Scientists explain this by the fact that, although retirement relieves many stresses, a person loses his usual social environment. Lack of work leads to a decrease in physical activity, excess weight, alcohol abuse. All this can provoke depression. Researchers who observed people a year before retirement and for several years after, found that well-deserved rest improves emotional state only temporarily. After two years, the frequency of visits to clinics and taking antidepressants is growing.
The loss of earnings due to early retirement worsens the health, especially of men. This is reported by scientists from University of Newcastle (Australia) and conclude that the state should encourage people to continue working.
A positive relationship between activity in retirement and health is noted by Chinese researchers. According to them, pensioners who take care of grandchildren and elderly parents are healthier physically and mentally. They have less depression, lower blood pressure, they are more satisfied with life. However, this applies only to citizens. In rural areas, the situation is different.
How to break stereotypes
Negative judgments about pensioners are widespread in society. It is believed that they are always worried, embittered, that a person's character deteriorates in retirement, memory and mental state deteriorate. However, these are just unsupported stereotypes. For example, data from insurance companies on French entrepreneurs who have spent several years in retirement do not indicate an increase in the number of diagnoses of dementia, dementia.
At the same time, the researchers note that the social status of pensioners really needs to be improved. One option is to provide them with the right to work. Specialists of the Saratov Socio-Economic Institute conducted a survey of about eight hundred pensioners to identify their motivation to continue their careers. The survey showed that the determining factor is material interest, in second place is the desire to be in demand, in third place is the desire to stay in the team.
Unemployed pensioners are mainly concerned about the state of health and low standard of living, working, in addition, lack of demand, loneliness. "Leaving work contributes to the development of a view of one's life as "living out", exacerbating attitudes to alienation and disintegration," the study says. Paradoxically, the overwhelming majority of respondents in both categories are satisfied with their lives and even happy.
Researchers from the Stavropol State Pedagogical Institute write about the "push-out effect" of pensioners. They find themselves on the sidelines of life, they are perceived as a burden to the young, as "second-rate", unclaimed by employers. As a result, people of the "third age" feel unprotected, vulnerable. A survey of about two hundred people demonstrated that unemployed pensioners more often feel the loss of the meaning of life, tend to devalue their abilities, their lives. On the contrary, working pensioners feel more confident and protected, retain the ability to develop.
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