An Australian study has shown that getting a good sleep at night and being active during the day was the most effective way to boost mood in retirees.
105 people took part in the Life After Work study. They were followed for six month before retirement to 12 months afterwards. They carefully logged their activities and their mood was measured.
The time spent on chores, physical activity, quiet time, screen time, self care, sleep, transport and work, all changed over this period of time. The most favourable substitution was replacing work time with physical activity and sleep. Replacing work with screen time and social activity showed less effect on mood enhancement.
After retirement, depression, anxiety and stress all reduced.
Olds T et al One day you will wake up and won’t have to go to work: The impact of changes in time use on mental health following retirement. PLoS ONE.2018;13(6);e0199605.doi:101371/journal.pone.0199605. PMID:29953472
Diabetes Diet 
Gee, I need to get moving…
I look forward to more walking and sleeping.
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One of the storemen where I used to work was always full of energy and on top of everything.
After he retired I was once told (by his cousin) he started shouting in a panic for his wife. When she arrived he asked her to pass him the remote control, which was the other side of the room! He didn’t last long, a few months after he retired and he was gone. Let that be a warning to you! Sofas kill – if you stop being active this will become a permanent condition
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I’m looking forward to more walks and not setting my alarm as well. I year and 4 months to go! Chris, I hope you are kidding about this bloke, but I suspect you aren’t.
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Sadly no, he went from one extreme of energy to the other. Then stopped dead. Literally.
On the other hand my mother walked regularly into her nineties, albeit slower and with more puffs on her inhaler, and frightened me a few times when I found her up a ladder cleaning the windows or similar.
I have to confess I’m doing less since I discovered Twitter but I still walk as regularly as I can. The hot summer knocked me back a bit, I was doing less walking and more sitting in the sun so I have a bit to catch up on.
I took early retirement to help look after her and take her places when she could no longer drive. Where I worked the other offices and factories were set on a hillside and I preferred to walk around rather than sit on the phone, and the town was set on more hills and I used to walk most lunchtimes too. The problem then was I would have to carb up every couple of hours on a long walk, nowadays I routinely go most of the day without needing to eat. I wish I’d discovered low carb/keto earlier.
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I have never been so darn busy since retirement. The only thing is I do not need to get up at 5:30 AM to do it. Of course I get paid less these days. Trade offs !!!
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