Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
Not only early retirement but any kind of retirement that gets the retiree in a mode that they don't have to try anymore will result in cognitive decline. I am seeing this in my dad who has been retired for ten years now. Throughout his work life he was a sharp hard working banker. Now he uses his age and retirement as an excuse for not trying. Just yesterday he wanted me to order something for him from Amazon. I told him to send me the link to the item. He asked me how to do that. I told him if you can't find the Share link just copy the link and send it to me. He responds by saying that he doesn't know how to do copy-paste. He has been using computers for at least the last fifteen years. I asked him how come he didn't know how to copy-paste. His response was - I am retired now and there's nobody to tell me or teach me. I can see the cognitive decline. Things he used to be able to do, he can't anymore. This type of attitude is also affecting his self respect and confidence.