提前退休好不好

The email invitations kept coming. “Please remember our leaving drinks tonight.” “Hope to see as many as can make it see me off.” “Please celebrate the end of an era — and, of course, the start of a new one.”

电子邮件邀请函不断地发送过来。“请记得参加我们今晚的告别酒会。”“希望看到尽可能多的人能够来为我送行。”“请庆祝一个时代的结束——当然，也庆祝一个新时代的开始。”

It has been retirement party time at the Financial Times as a number of colleagues, examining their pension and financial options after a change of ownership, have decided this is a good moment to go.

近来英国《金融时报》的退休派对接连不断。好几名同事在英国《金融时报》易主后查看了自己的养老金和金融期权，作出了离开的决定。

Most of the leavers have been in their late 50s and early 60s, baby boomers whose healthy pensions and property wealth make early retirement possible.

大多数离开的人都是55岁往后，60岁出头。作为“婴儿潮”一代，他们的养老金和地产财富使他们能够提前退休。

Average UK life expectancy is 81, slightly above the wealthy country average. Most of those we said goodbye to will be retired a long time — around a quarter of their lives. Except for the most lavishly qualified, this is longer than all their years in education, from the first day of primary school to university graduation.

英国人的平均寿命是81岁，略微高于富裕国家的平均水平。我们送别的大多数同事会享受漫长的退休生活——大约是他们生命的四分之一。除了学历最高的那些人以外，这比他们受教育的全部时间——从上小学的第一天到大学毕业——还要长。

Those who live longer than average — and the better-off are more likely to do so — could spend nearly as much time retired as they did working. 

那些寿命超过平均值的人可能会度过和他们的工作年限一样长的退休时光，而富裕的人更有可能长寿。

Is this a clever idea? Is it good for your health and happiness to spend so many years not working?

这是不是一个明智的想法？这么多年不工作对你的健康和幸福有没有好处？

Some years ago, the view was that it was not. Work kept you healthy and in touch. It gave you status and purpose. Stopping work led to a quick decline. Early retirement meant early death.

一些年前，普遍观点是这样不好。工作让你身体健康，让你与社会保持联系。工作为你提供地位和目的。停止工作会导致你快速衰老。提前退休等于提前死亡。

A 2005 study published in the BMJ medical journal looked at workers who had retired from Shell Oil, the US subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. It found that those who retired at 55 had far higher death rates than those who carried on working until they were 65.

2005年发表于《英国医学期刊》(BMJ)上的论文研究了荷兰皇家壳牌(Royal Dutch Shell)美国子公司壳牌石油(Shell Oil)的退休员工，发现那些55岁退休的人比那些工作到65岁才退休的人的死亡率高得多。

Was this because those 55-year olds had stopped working because their health was poor? To try to eliminate this possibility, the study examined those who had lived beyond 65, figuring that many of those who had retired early because of ill health would have died before reaching 65.

那些55岁的人之所以选择在55岁退休，是否正是因为他们身体不好？为了排除这一可能性，该研究调查的是那些寿命超过65岁的人，料想许多因为健康状况不好提前退休的人无法活到65岁。

Even then, those who retired at 55 died earlier than those who carried on working. The death rate was even higher for early retirees with lower-paid jobs. But those who retired from better-paid positions at 55 also had shorter lives than those who carried on working. Those who left at 60 lived as long as those who retired at 65. It was retirement at 55 that was so damaging.

即便如此，那些在55岁的退休的人也比那些55后后继续工作的人死得更早。从薪酬较低的职位上提前退休的员工的死亡率还要更高。而那些在55岁时从薪酬较高的职位上退休的人，寿命也比那些55岁后继续工作的人短。60岁退休的人跟65岁退休的人寿命一样长。损害尤其大的是在55岁退休。

The Shell Oil study had its limitations. Only 11 per cent of the workers studied were women. But it chimed with much conventional wisdom at the time: retirement was not good for you.

针对壳牌石油退休员工进行的这项研究有其局限性。只有11%的研究对象是女性。但这项研究的结论跟当时的普遍观点一致：退休对健康不利。

Except I have noticed something about retirement parties. It is not only existing colleagues who come. Those who have retired drop by too — and I am always struck by how well they look. Their skin often has a glow it did not have when they were working and most of them are thinner.

只是，我在退休派对上注意到了一些事情。不仅现在的同事来了。那些已经退休的人也来了——他们气色都很好，每每让我感到惊讶。他们的皮肤大多焕发着一种光泽，是他们还在职的时候没有的，大多数人都更苗条了。

This, according to research presented to the annual congress of the European Economic Association in Mannheim in August, is because, contrary to those earlier studies, retirement actually is good for you.

这是因为，根据8月在曼海姆举行的欧洲经济协会(EEA)年会上展示的研究，与更早的研究得出的结果相反，退休实际上对健康是有好处的。

The study looked at German survey data from 1994 to 2012 and found that retired people were more likely to say their physical and mental health had improved since retirement. They managed an extra 40 minutes of sleep every weekday and were more likely to exercise. They also visited the doctor less often.

这项研究查看了德国从1994年到2012年的调查数据，发现退休的人更有可能说他们的身体和心理健康在退休后有所改善。他们在每个工作日能多睡40分钟，更有可能锻炼身体。他们看医生也比以前少。

Has this result been replicated in studies that do not rely on self-reporting? Finnish researchers looked at 11,000 public sector workers’ purchases of antidepressants in the years before and after their retirement. The results, published in the journal Epidemiology in 2011, showed that people without significant health problems used fewer antidepressants after they stopped working.

有没有不依赖自我陈说的研究得出了一样的结果？芬兰研究人员对比了1.1万名公共部门员工在退休前后购买抗抑郁药品的记录。该研究的结果发表在2011年的《流行病学》(Epidemiology)期刊上，表明没有明显健康问题的人们在退休后服用的抗抑郁药变少了。

The researchers said release from the demands of work, more time for exercise and a feeling of greater personal autonomy seemed to improve mental health. Certainly, most of the retired people I speak to seem not only happy and healthy but busy. Many were still working, although not for one employer and not all the time. Some researchers argue partial retirement is preferable to a complete halt. Many had travelled. Some were involved with grandchildren. Some were engaged in new activities, such as singing in choirs. They are a lucky, as well as a happy and healthy, generation. 

研究者表示，从工作要求中解放出来，拥有更多的时间锻炼，感觉自己有更大自主权，这似乎能够改善心理健康。当然，我聊过的大多数退休人士似乎不仅快乐、健康，还很忙碌。很多人还在工作，尽管不是为一个雇主，也不是全职工作。一些研究者认为，半退休比完全停止工作更可取。很多人去旅行。有些人照顾孙子女。有些人参与了新活动，比如在合唱团唱歌。他们是幸运、同时也快乐健康的一代人。

Their children and grandchildren, with lower pension and housing assets, will have to work far longer. Future researchers will have to study the effect that has on their health.

这代人的子女和孙子女的养老金更低，房产更少，因此不得不工作长得多的时间。未来的研究者将不得不研究这对他们的健康有何影响。