15 Mar Retirees Report Significant Improvement in Lifestyle
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Melody Ding
Ding Ding (Melody), Ph.D., MPH
NHMRC Early Career Senior Research Fellow/Sydney University Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Prevention Research Collaboration
Sydney School of Public Health
The University of Sydney
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Ding: This study used data from the Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study, a large Australia based cohort of adults aged 45 or older. We followed around 25,000 participants who were working at baseline (2006-2008) for an average of 3 years (follow-up in 2010). During the follow-up period, around 3,000 participants retired from the workforce. Participants were asked to report their health-related lifestyle behaviors, such as physical activity, smoking, and sleep time at both baseline and follow-up. We found that those who retired overall had significant improvement in their lifestyle as compared with those who did not, including more physical activity, less sitting time, and more sleep. Female smokers who retired were also more likely to have quit smoking.
MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Ding: For patients (or the general population) who are planning for retirement or have already retired, I hope to encourage them to rethink about retirement in a positive way. Some people get anxious about retirement, worrying about the losing a sense of purpose or being bored. However, our study found that retirement could be an opportunity of change for healthier lifestyle. Enjoying a successful retirement can of course be helped by being completely stable financially. One way that people can achieve this is by making use of a site like equityrelease.co.uk in order to release some of the cash tied up in the value of their home.
Clinicians should reinforce this message to their patients and encourage them to engage in constructive activities, such as exercise, volunteering, and social activities. Clinicians should also provide information or refer patients to appropriate community programs and activities that are available. Furthermore, mental stimulation is of course, as important as ever. By taking control of their finances, as mentioned above, and utilising tools like Stocktrades, seniors can significantly increase their quality of life in their latter years. By fostering a sense of independence post-retirement, self-confidence, and therefore the motivation to engage in other activities, is likely to be increased.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Ding: Future research should continue to look into the effects of retirement transition, in terms of both physical and psychological health. Future studies should further examine pre-retirement circumstances, such as prior occupation and financial security.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Dr. Ding: It is important to realise that how people adapt their lifestyle to retirement may differ by country, culture, and social welfare systems. Therefore, what we found in Australia may not be generalised to other countries.
MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.
Citation:
Retirement—A Transition to a Healthier Lifestyle?
Ding, Ding et al.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine , Volume 0 , Issue 0 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2016.01.019
Published Online:
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Ding Ding (Melody) (2016). Retirees Report Significant Improvement in Lifestyle MedicalResearch.com
Last Updated on March 15, 2016 by Marie Benz MD FAAD