Careful what you wish for.

Those long, stressful days at work may elicit fantasies of “the good life” of a retiree, but new research suggests retirement may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Or at least, not for as long.

Over the course of an 18-year study by Oregon State University, older adults who retired at least a year past age 65 had a lower risk of death than those who retired at 65. Even unhealthy adults who worked at least that extra year benefitted, with lower risk of death. Because poor health is often a cited reason for retirement, the study included a wide range of health statuses.

The OSU researchers found healthy adults who retired a year past 65 had an 11 percent lower risk of death from all causes, even when taking into account demographic, lifestyle and health issues. Adults who described themselves as unhealthy were also likely to live longer if they kept working, indicating factors beyond health affect post-retirement mortality.

“It may not apply to everybody, but we think work brings people a lot of economic and social benefits that could impact the length of their lives,” said Chenkai Wu, the lead author of the study, in an OSU media statement.

Researchers analyzed subsets of data collected by the Healthy Retirement Study, a long-term study of 12,000 U.S. adults, led by the University of Michigan and funded by the National Institute on Aging. The findings were published in April’s Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Chu’s interest in the topic stems from China’s controversial mandatory retirement age. Prior research examines economic impacts of retirement, with less emphasis on health and longevity.

During the study period, about 12 percent of the healthy and 25.6 percent of the unhealthy retirees died. Healthy retirees who worked a year longer had an 11 percent lower risk of mortality, while unhealthy retirees who worked a year longer had a 9 percent lower mortality risk. Working a year longer had a positive impact on the study participants’ mortality rate regardless of their health status.

Study authors said the healthy adults were generally more advantaged in terms of education, wealth, health behaviors, and lifestyle, but taking all of those issues into account, the pattern remained. These findings reinforce other studies which strongly suggest people who remain generally active and meaningfully engaged benefit mentally and physically.

•••

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.