A study published recently in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease finds that working in one’s 60s and 70s is associated with better physical and mental health.

Epidemiologists from the University of Miami analyzed data from more than 85,000 adults age 65 and older. (The mean age was around 75.) In general, people who kept working were nearly three times as likely to report being in good health as those who had retired.

Compared with white-collar workers, blue-collar workers still on the job were 15 percent less likely to report multiple chronic diseases, like heart disease, diabetes and cancer. And all types of workers, in the service sector or white collar workers, part or full time, reported better mental health, compared with those who were retired or unemployed, although it couldn’t determine whether working leads to good health or if it’s good health that keeps people working.

“It’s kind of the chicken or egg problem,” Caban-Martinez says. “Maybe poor physical health is not allowing people to be in the workforce.”  (2015 NPR website)

Well, yes.  But you don’t have to work in an office, or similar, to get the same effect. What you need is a structured day and an occupation that challenges you and gives you satisfaction. Sometimes, it is only when faced with retirement that you discover talents that were never discovered by parents or educators.  In my own case the result is a busy “retirement” that involves no monetary income, but which is rewarding in ways money can’t buy. You never know what lurks within the human brain, and unfortunately schools are not always good at uncovering it, which is partly what they are there to do. Do you think school did a good job at “bringing out” your own talents?