Retirement is often conceived as the phase to enjoy life and have fun. It is when you can do everything you want with your time. You can take long vacations, take various hobbies, or travel to different places. While retirement should be all about relaxing and enjoying the fruits of years of hard work, it can sometimes lead to a feeling of depression instead.
Depression and retirement are not totally linked together. But to some, the reality of life after years of working doesn’t live up to its promise. Though a lot of people look forward to fruitful golden years, clinical depression might actually hit them hard after they retire.
How to Avoid Depression After Retirement?
You might have realized it or not, but work has been fueling your happiness in some ways throughout your life. Your job supports your need for social connections, everyday routine and a sense of purpose.
In retirement, everything will be different. And the key towards enjoying your new life is to find ways to achieve the things that your previous job provides. Here are few ways to help you keep depression away after retirement.
1. Be active and stay in shape
Keeping yourself active as you age is beneficial not just to your physical well-being but also to your mental well-being. In an Employee Benefits Research Institute study, one of the key results showed that health status is strongly correlated with retirement satisfaction. Poorer health is associated with lower levels of satisfaction. With that, it only proves that having an active and healthy lifestyle can make you happy in retirement.
It is important to incorporate exercise of any form, in your daily routine. You don’t have to get a gym membership to have an active lifestyle. You can jog or go on a brisk walk every day at the park near you or around the community. You can also visit local recreation center and take various activities often at affordable prices.
2. Be socially active
When you leave the workforce, you also leave the social network that comes with it. In retirement, you have to put in some or a lot of effort to maintain your social health.
Other research also found out that socially active retirees enjoy satisfaction in life and other benefits such as longevity and better overall health late in life.
You can take new hobbies that are socially inclined such as dancing, traveling, and volunteering. And avoid activities (but not totally, as you wish) that can isolate you, such as reading, fishing, painting, and writing.
3. Develop a routine
It differs a lot to wake up every day knowing what to do and accomplish than not having any plans at all. In retirement, your schedule will be pretty much blank. If it remains that way for a longer time, boredom might crawl in, and depression can strike.
Creating a routine will help you have a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Make a schedule for your everyday activities, even if it is as simple as going to the market, meeting friends, or hitting the basketball court. The important thing is that you have something to do that will keep you busy every day.
4. Continue working
In the study, Employment, late-life work, retirement, and well-being in Europe and the United States, the results showed that voluntary part-time workers had higher levels of evaluative and pleasant well-being, as well as lower levels of stress and anger compared to full-time workers. On the other hand, other older cohorts who remained in the labor workforce under full time and voluntary part-time arrangements showed higher levels of well-being and health satisfaction and lower levels of stress and anger than their retired counterparts.
I am not saying that you have to go back to working full time, what this means is that you can still work part-time or on a reduced schedule.
5. Give back
It turns out that activities that involve other people are the best ways to take care of yourself. Giving back provides a greater feeling of mental well-being than those who didn’t.
If you want to give back, you can volunteer in charities, tutor kids in nearby elementary schools, etc. Giving back is also a great way to build social connections in addition to giving you a purpose in post-work life.
6. Depression screening
If you find yourself irritable, apathetic or have observed changes in your mood for the past weeks, it is best to undergo a depression screening. Depression screening will help you recognize the onset of depression before it could totally take you in.
If you are a Medicare Part B beneficiary, depression screening is completely covered provided that the screening will be done in a primary care setting and the doctor accepts assignments. Medicare part B provides one screening a year. Your doctor or another health worker may suggest you get services more often than what your Medicare covers or does not cover. If this happens, you may have to pay some or all of the costs out-of-pocket unless you have a supplemental insurance plan for Medicare. It is best to ask your doctor how you can better manage your health and understand why certain services are recommended for you to take.
7. Back to school
Learning new things is one of the best ways to stimulate your mind and protect it against depression. You can sign up for college courses even if it is far from your previous career field. Some universities, like Harvard, offer free or low-cost video courses that you can take online.
Bottom line
To keep depression after retirement at distant possibilities, you should make an effort to keep yourself occupied mentally, physically and socially. Retirement is the time to enjoy the fruits of your hard work, don’t let depression creep in and ruin it.