December 28, 2004
From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:Post-retirement aging.
Inspired by an article about Ray Kurzweil's determination to live forever, Susan Crawford compiles some advice on living longer..
Anecdotal evidence among my family and acquaintances is that people who work longer live longer. My grandfather worked until he was 86. A geriatric specialist recently told an aging relative that his primary medical advice was "don't retire". Of course it helps if you love what you do.
Last week I was a guest at a birthday party thrown by the host for himself. He got 180 friends together and sang all evening to us -- songs from his past, not songs he had written -- and it was really something. It was not pathetic and self-serving, although it easily could have been. It was a great evening. Two guys next to me were grousing about getting older ("it's all downhill, it's so awful"). It seems to me that if you can still sing (or do something else -- write software?) and still have some friends around, it might be fine to live forever.
In Susan's case, I hope she keeps playing the viola. I believe playing a musical instrument is restorative, exercising both the brain and small muscles.
Posted by Mindles H. Dreck at December 28, 2004 9:01 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksPretty hard to determine cause an effect here (assuming the relationship is true, of course).
Does working longer help you live longer? Or does being healthy enough to live that long mean you're more likely to enjoy working longer?
This is a fascinating area to speculate about. I am an accountant and am very sensitive to the rumor that of the major professions, accounting, law, medicine, etc., accountants have the shortest life expectancy. That may be because, traditionally, accountants at major firms retired at age 55 while attorneys and doctors tend to work into their 70s. It may also be that the stress of being an accountant is higher. (Accountants tend to have less "control" than do attorneys and doctors. We respond to arbitrary government mandated deadlines from which there is seldom any reprieve. Attorneys can frequently get a trial date moved. Doctors face life and death situations, but they seem to thrive on playing god.)
One thing that is often commented on is the mortality rate among those who have recently lost a long-term spouse to death. When a women becomes a widow, she tends to spend the next 10 years or so visiting her grandkids. Widowers tend to die within a year of their wife -- they seem to have nothing to live for.
More anecdotal evidence: when I was on active duty, I noticed that quite a few general officers died within 2-3 years of retiring at age 55. I personally believe that one needs to retire TO something as opposed to retiring FROM something. One fellow I know retired early (in his early fifties) from the steel industry and decided to travel the country playing golf at every course he could find. As far as I know, he's still doing that.
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