You may hope to retire some day, but don't expect to find the 79-year-old actor Robert Redford anywhere near you on the back nine. The Hollywood legend told The Wall Street Journal that he thinks "retirement can lead to death," and added "that’s not for me.”
Death? Really? In the literal sense? Well, the jury is still out on that one. Some of it is just common sense: Retirement generally comes with lower income and less money to invest in your health. Retirement also comes with less cognitive and physical activity, which, according to research from a 2010 study by Susann Rohwedder and Robert J. Willis, is behind the old "use it or lose it" adage. Additionally, retirement often means changes in daily routines and lifestyles which are potentially associated with unhealthy behavior, numerous studies have shown. But, the overall consequences of retirement as they link to death are not at all clear, notes Medical Daily.
One issue that factors in the research is the reason why individuals retired in the first place. In some cases, it's because their own health starts to fail. Other times, they retire to better manage the care of an ailing parent or spouse -- something that is frequently more stressful than going to the office every day. And stress, as we know, can be a killer.
And often, early retirement is something that doesn't happen by choice. When you lose a job in your early 60s and can't find another one, the financial stress and sense of worth deliver a one-two punch to the gut. AARP reports that half of all older workers who lost their jobs in the past five years remain unemployed.
As for Redford, we celebrate the fact that the twilight years have actually been pretty good to him. As he told the Wall Street Journal, career-wise he's busier than he's been in a long while. He has two movies coming out this fall: A Walk in the Woods, an adaptation of Bill Bryson’s book about walking the Appalachian Trail, which opened this month, and Truth, opening in October, a drama in which he plays Dan Rather. From the Wall Street Journal: "One reason for all this activity, Redford says, is that age and its diminishments have also brought freedom and opportunity. No longer just a pretty face, he now gets offered parts that would have been denied him years ago."
We should all be so lucky.
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The daytime TV host Kathie Lee Gifford has two children, Cody and Cassidy, who have grown and flown. She shared her tips for surviving the big send-off and aftermath on Today, which include baking cookies, closing your kids' bedroom doors and resisting the urge to go inside, keeping yourself busy and having a get-together with other empty nesters to remind yourself you're not in this alone.
In his book, "Love Life," Rob Lowe vividly described the heartbreak of sending his kids off to college. He has two sons, Matthew and John. "Jesus Christ, pull yourself together, man!” I tell myself. "There are parents sending their kids off to battle zones, or putting them into rehabs and many other more legitimately emotional situations, all over our country. How dare I feel so shattered?"
Meredith Vieira has two sons and one daughter who are all grown up. She says she was pretty shattered when her oldest left for college. But it does get better. "I sometimes feel guilty saying it, but I think the empty nest is great," she said in an interview with Parade. "We did our job, as my husband points out repeatedly. You're supposed to give your children roots and wings, and their roots are firmly planted in the ground and they have a sense of themselves and of place and purpose. They have the ability to fly away from home and to test those wings. It's time for us to sort of recapture our lives and enjoy it and I look forward to that."
Mother-of-three Susan Sarandon was looking forward to the empty nest and having more control over her schedule. "The thing is, when you have kids you're such a captive to their school schedule so you get an invite or you want to go someplace or something, you have to be back (by a certain time). I'm very hands on so I have to break that habit," she said.
The actor Denis Leary, who has two children with his wife Ann, says deep down they couldn't wait for the nest to empty. "If you have teenagers – their rooms are full of such great stuff," he told WENN. "When I was a kid your room was like dust. We were poor growing up, we didn’t have televisions. My kids have plasma TVs and games and PlayStations and three different game systems and laptops. It’s a blast! My son has guitars in his room – a drum kit… I can’t wait.” Hilarious.
A positive outlook is the one thing you need to be able to cope with an empty nest, Sigourney Weaver says. "I’m determined not to be one of those mawkish, soppy mothers so I’m determined to be very busy. Plus it’s kind of exciting watching her go out there into the world," she said in an interview with The Telegraph.
Kyra Sedgwick and husband Kevin Bacon have two children and says there's an upside to the empty nest. "There’s something to waking up and thinking, ‘What am I doing today?’ instead of, ‘How can I squeeze in what I need to do around their schedules?’" she told Parade. "But hearing my kids walk through the front door saying hello is still the best sound to me," she added.