Why retirement is just as stressful as going to work

MANY workers nearing retirement look forward to relaxing after leaving the rat race behind – but a study suggests the reality may be very different.

Being retired was no less stressful than working, except after leaving a powerful highly-paid job, researchers say.

By measuring the hormone cortisol, they found stress levels in retired lowerranking employees were much the same as when they were enduring early morning commutes and long working days.

For the lower-paid, the pressure of making ends meet on their pension appears to almost cancel out the joys of retirement. The Manchester University study examined 1,143 high, middle and low- grade civil servants working in London. Lead author Professor Tarani Chandola said he was ‘surprised’ by the result, published in the Journal of Gerontology.

He added: ‘This may be because workers who retire from lower status jobs often face financial and other pressures.

‘This study suggests people’s stress levels are not just determined by immediate circumstances, but by long-run factors over the course of their lives.’ The scientists took five saliva samples at different times of day. They found we are most stressed half an hour after waking in the morning, with levels sloping downwards throughout the day.

Retirees from lower-ranking jobs showed slopes barely differing from when they worked. But levels fell significantly among those who had had top jobs.