Is "Retirement" Contributing to Dementia?

If you are reading today's blog expecting a well-researched piece of literature, well, it's not. It's a gut feeling that I've had for some time, and I read two articles today that back up my gut feeling. And my gut feeling is that our laid-back, leisure-laden, no-work Western version of retirement is contributing to dementia.

Now, in order to prove this, I'd have to compare data of the rate of dementia in people of typical retirement age (let's say 65 and up) in our country to other countries, and I'd have to look at the patterns of work along with the cultural work ethic of nations when it comes to people of retirement age. I'd also have to look at the average age of death (perhaps not many people of typical retirement age live long enough to have dementia in some countries) and I'd have to study the attitudes towards aging in a selection of cultures around the world. But I have two manuals and a Hebrew song book due and I don't have time to do that most interesting study right now (but would be interested in hearing from those who have).

So I'll just go back to my original unproven hypothesis that our Western version of retirement is contributing to increased rates of dementia. Here's why.

It's starting to become acceptable knowledge that finding and having purpose leads to a longer life with less chance of losing cognitive ability as one ages. There is an article, the link to which has been traveling around the Internet over the past 24 hours, which can be found by clicking here. The article is called "Sense of purpose reduces Alzheimer's risk." Researchers have found that "People who said they felt they had a sense of direction in their lives were significantly less likely to go on and develop the condition."

Up until retirement age, we have a purpose, whether we like that purpose or not, whether we chose that purpose or not. We have to get up each morning and get the kids off to school. We have to make food, get in our cars, get to work. We have to clean house, do laundry, go shopping. We have to visit our aging parents. We have to book a vacation. We have to celebrate, mourn, socialize, spiritualize. We have a whole raft of things to keep us going, to propel us forward. It's our purpose.

And all along, we look forward to retirement. Kinda how people of many faiths look forward to a heavenly paradise, we look forward to the day when we do... nothing. And it's that nothing that is killing us.

I live in Phoenix, one of the retirement capitals of North America, if not the world. Names like "Leisure World" and "Sun City" adorn retirement communities. During the winter the roads are crowded with vehicles sporting license plates from Alberta, BC and Minnesota. To be sure, I'd have to admit that most of the retirees living in Leisure World have purpose, particularly those who are snow birds and look forward to relatives visiting almost continuously and also towards the inevitable time when they must pack up and go north, or south, depending on the season. Some people are quite active in the politics of their communities, becoming members of the board. Many retirees take advantage of organized activities, golf, pot luck dinners and the like.

But can man live on bingo alone? I think not.

In our Western society (and I'm really just thinking North America here) most of us move forward towards that mythical day when we can stop. Retire. We come to a screeching halt and, do nothing. Because we have "retired," we don't have to find any other purpose than to be retired. Because there is no place of employment we have to show up at, no kids screaming for food, no aging parents to care for, we have no purpose. And because we've been too busy throughout the first chunk of our lives fulfilling everyone else's needs, we have neglected to find purpose ourselves. So we head into the last phase of our lives rudderless and purposeless. And we are now finding that this attitude can contribute to dementia.

Where I find our retirement mentality carried over most -- and where it should be least welcome -- is in to our long term care facilities. Precisely at the time when we ought to be injecting the high-octane, super energy gas into our independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing and memory care residents, instead we usher them into la la land. Think of the last long term care facility you have visited. What sort of environment are they striving for? Peaceful, luxurious, don't lift a finger, bingo three times a day, three meals a day, housekeeping, quiet, no stress, no work, we bring everything to you... these are words that come to mind when I think of long term care facilities. How is anyone supposed to find purpose in these places? And why would the administrators of long term or memory care facilities even THINK to help their residents find purpose when their residents are supposed to be living out their lives in blissful retirement?!

I've written about Ivy Bean before. Ivy is 104. Between her Twitter and Facebook accounts, she now has 55,000 friends and followers. Yesterday she was driven via a Bentley from her home at Hillside Manor (long term care) in Bradford, England, to #10 Downing Street, at the invitation of the Prime Minister of England. Please read this short article about her tweets of her experience (the one about the bathroom is most droll). What's next, the Queen of England? I would not be in the least surprised.

The point is that the residents of Hillside Manor are encouraged to dream and are enabled to carry out their dreams. Ivy Bean could just as well be languishing in "Sunset Hills" (a made-up name) home, watching TV and having her nails done (not that there is anything wrong with that). But I think that if she was, she'd be dead, or have mild cognitive impairment at the least.

We need to encourage everyone, no matter the age, no matter the condition, to dream and then help people to fulfill their dreams. This is what we all ought to be striving for, even if the person who has the dream, has dementia. Because not only does having purpose, a job, a task, a motivation, help to stave off dementia, it helps those who already have the disease to slow the progression. I truly believe this. Note that I'm differentiating between purposeful activity and a slate of activities designed to fill time. Purposeful activity, activity that moves a person towards their purpose, is different from killing time. Purposeful activity might include opportunities to give back, creative endeavours that the person finds fulfilling, activity that moves a person towards their stated goal, or activity that the person simply finds extremely interesting and fulfilling. Note that purposeful activity COULD include bingo if the person's goal is to rule the bingo world. And yes, retirement can include goals; a person living in a memory care unit can still have goals. But just activities for the sake of activity?

If you are the care partner of someone with dementia, rather than thinking about the person you are losing, think about the person your loved one could become. How can you help him or her to find their purpose? How can you help them to carry out their purpose?

And think about not retiring!