Into Loneliness and Despondency

By Nana Dadzie Ghansah

I made an observation growing up that has stayed with me till now. I noted how men who had worked their whole lives would go into retirement and suffer precipitous declines in health, that in some cases, led to death. I filed that away.
Working as a physician, I have also made another observation that somehow ties into the first. I have noticed that older patients, being those 70 and older, who were still in relatively good health and looked physically fit, had something in common. They were active. Not just physical activity but most of them still worked regularly. The most impressive are the old farmers.
These physically fit seniors always stand in stark contrast to their compatriots who were not active.

These observations and other anecdotes have always made me wonder about the wisdom behind retirement. Why do we retire?
We spend years keeping a schedule that keeps us regimented only to one day give that all up for one that may not be as controlled and full. Somehow, that dramatic change has effects that are profound.

We did not always have retirement. The concept is actually just a bit over a century old. It is noteworthy that even in the 19th century, the older generation may have been seen as a burden. In his 1882 novel titled “The…