After retirement, brain may deteriorate and prone to depression. Students suggest three directions to improve their awareness and mental health.

After decades of work, retirement seems to be a deserving rest, and experts warn of the potential for brain health decline, including decreased awareness and increased risk of depression. However, after retirement, people will also have more time to socialize and cultivate their love, which can be an opportunity to improve their cognition and mental health, so it depends on how to plan post-retirement activities. According to New York Times, an analysis of more than 8,000 retirees in Europe found that people's verbal memory fell faster than when they were working. Another UK survey showed that although language memory has dropped sharply after retirement, other skills such as abstract reasoning have not been affected. Guglielmo Weber, a professor at the University of Padova who participates in European studies, pointed out that the brain will not be challenged too much after retirement. In addition, women have less chances of declining intelligence or cognitive abilities, as they are more likely than men to continue socializing and spend time with their families after retirement.

studies have also found that retirement is related to depression. Xi Chen, an associate professor of public health who studies aging at Yale University, said that after not working, he would start to play with the feeling that he is worthless, emotionally depressed, sad, depression, memory loss, and the quality of his job and how he looks at his job seem to affect the degree of decline. People who work at higher levels may decline more severely, possibly because their identities and careers are more closely connected.

Experts said that retirement can be a growth mechanism, and the key is to prepare in advance. Don’t wait until you retire and want to "take a long vacation" before starting planning.

Dr. Alison Moore, director of geriatrics, geriatrics and Anning science at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), said that under ideal circumstances, a new mental and physical exercise should be started a few years before retirement, and even if it is not executed immediately, it should be formulated, because it will be more difficult to make up your mind after retirement, such as whether to spend half a year on a trip, etc. The planning goal should be to transform from current daily life to another type of daily life.

The following are the three major directions for planning retirement life.

1. Finding new goals

Studies show that people with a sense of purpose tend to experience less age-related declines. Chen Xi pointed out that volunteer work is of great help. Research has found that people who participate in volunteer services after retirement have a slow physiological aging rate, and through participation and maintaining vitality, they can avoid a decline in cognitive ability.

2. Committed to maintain social connections after retirement is common, but David Richter, professor of investigation and research at the School of Education and Psychology at the Liberal University of Berlin, pointed out that there are quite practical evidence that once social contact decreases, awareness will decline.

In order to avoid depression, declining awareness, and premature death caused by loneliness, face-to-face or even online gatherings can be arranged regularly to replace social interaction in the workplace. But not all social photos are accepted. The best thing is activities that can challenge thinking and conduct in-depth discussions with others, such as book reading clubs.

3. Try new things

Doing creative and new things can keep your brain sensitive. Jonathan Schooler, a professor of psychology and brain science at UCSB, said creativity can be practiced like other skills, such as writing for a period of time a day or trying out a special different food recipe; creativity can also enhance a person's "meaning", and there are a lot of evidence that finding the meaning of life can bring people a great sense of satisfaction. Exercise regularly at the end can also strengthen brain health, so you can also consider trying new fitness courses.