If you rest, you rust

Retire early? Sure, but with a plan (so says science). Also, 7 other things worth knowing today.

Early retirement. For some folks, it’s the dream.

But, a massive new study of the retirement experiences of literally millions of people in China suggests that early retirement might be a riskier objective than some people want to believe—at least if you don’t plan for what comes next.

Writing in the peer-reviewed journal Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, researchers obtained two big troves of data on literally millions of Chinese people, some of whom had been able to retire early due to a government program that offered pensions, and some who kept working.

The data also recorded people's performance on various cognitive tests and memory assessments, and revealed some striking results. In short, assistant professor of economics Plamen Nikolov of Binghamton University and his coauthors determined that the new pension program "led to significant adverse effects on cognitive functioning," according to a statement:

The most significant indicator of cognitive decline was delayed recall, a measure widely implicated in neurobiological research as an important predictor of dementia.

The pension program had more negative effects among females, and Nikolov said the results support the mental retirement hypothesis that decreased mental activity results in worsening cognitive skills. 

I spoke with Nikolov by phone earlier this month, and we talked about how to extrapolate the findings of this kind of study to Americans' hopes for early retirement.

Among the takeaways: It’s probably not the mere fact of early retirement that connects to cognitive decline, but changes in daily behavior patterns. For example, early retirees according to the data had lower rates of volunteering, social interaction, and even simply using their brains for challenging tasks.

"If you rest, you rust," Nikolov told me, adding: "So what I would do, or what somebody can do, is don't isolate yourself. Retiring and doing nothing, not using your brain because you don't work anymore, leads to other fortuitous consequences."

(By the way, in case you're like me, and you got hung up on the use of the word "fortuitous" in our interview and in the underlying study, it's used here in the sense of an unintended consequence, not a beneficial consequence.)

So, retire early if you can, I suppose—but do so with plans in mind to ensure you're still involved in healthy doses of those three key activities.

Again (and this squares with a lot of other studies): volunteering, making sure you have social interaction (and friends), and what we might call brainwork.

May I suggest chess? Or as we've seen in earlier studies that I've written about, crossword puzzles? Or even better, the habit of reading for pleasure 90 minutes each day?

Retirement is a fine goal. But retirement with a smart plan to tackle the new challenges it will bring, is probably even finer.

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The 102nd Habit

I kept the top essay a bit short today, to ask for your thoughts on something if you’re so inclined. Last week, I wrote an article/listicle for Inc.com: 101 Very Simple Habits That Will Improve Your Life Today.

It was simple but fun—basically a list of very short suggestions designed to improve your day a little bit, like:

• #6 “Leave a couple of dollars for someone to find.”

• #44: “Plant a tree. Or really anything that will be green eventually.”

• #79: “Get rid of your least favorite underwear.”

(All writing is autobiographical, and I admit I was wearing my least favorite “aw man, if this is all that’s left it means I forgot to do laundry” boxer-briefs that day.)

Anyway, I asked in the article for people to offer their best 102nd habit. I’ve had some good submissions, but I thought: Why not ask here, too? Then, we’ll do another article with the “Best of the 102nds” sometime soon.

So if you have an idea for a 102nd habit or activity that will improve almost anyone’s day, add it in the comments (button below) or reply to this email. Thanks!

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7 other things worth knowing today

• Memphis police released a sickening video of five officers beating Tyre Nichols, who later died from his injuries. All five officers have been charged with murder. If you haven’t seen the video, it’s embedded at this link. (Mediaite)

• A court released video showing the hammer attack last year on Paul Pelosi, husband of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Afterward, the defendant, David DePape, called a TV station, and in a bizarre statement suggested his attack was politically motivated, and said he wanted to "apologize to everyone" for not attacking more people. (KTVU)

• New York City just broke a 50-year-record: Deepest date into winter with zero snow accumulation. (NY Post)

• A 60-something Canadian man (who is also an Understandably reader) shared his experience being diagnosed and treated for invasive ductal carcinoma, a/k/a breast cancer. It's rare for men, but it does happen, and he’s on a bit of a mission to make sure other men are aware. (Deplatformable)

• The new push for more babies: How tech elites think it will save the planet. Elon Musk (father of 10 that we know of) and a new generation of pronatalists are warning of falling birth rates. (National Post)

• The Earth's inner core may have stopped turning and could go into reverse, a study suggests. “Nothing cataclysmic is happening," but “more data and innovative methods are needed to shed light on this interesting problem.” (CNN)

• A hand-drawn map with a red letter X, purportedly showing the location in Holland of a buried stash of precious jewelry looted by Nazis from a blown-up bank vault, has sparked a modern-day treasure hunt. (ABC News)

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Thanks for reading. Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments!