Live data from Hacker News

Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

studyfinds.org

111–120 of 292 posts

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked him how come he didn't know how to copy-paste. His response was - I am retired now and there's nobody to tell me or teach me. I can see the cognitive decline. Are you positive that for the 15 years he spent using a computer at work he just wasn't constantly asking younger people in the office to do stuff for him and never learned because computers are scary? I've seen it before from people who have been using…

I don't want to suggest I'm diagnosing anything, but my Mum taught some computer use as a high school teacher. She ran a computerisation project as school librarian. In retirement she did computer courses and helped w charity at which she used computers often. Then she started having to write down sequences of instructions for relatively basic things (like 'cut&paste an image into an email') to the point of not being…

[deleted]

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#112

Not only early retirement but any kind of retirement that gets the retiree in a mode that they don't have to try anymore will result in cognitive decline. I am seeing this in my dad who has been retired for ten years now. Throughout his work life he was a sharp hard working banker. Now he uses his age and retirement as an excuse for not trying. Just yesterday he wanted me to order something for him from Amazon. I tol…

I guess this is why you should work less hard and do more to cultivate hobbies. I can’t imagine retiring and doing nothing. So many projects.

I don't understand how so many people can anchor their lives to work. If you do that, when you retire, you've lost your meaning of life. I have a list of things a mile long that I just can't get to because 40 hours a week is already spoken for. Early retirement speeds cognitive decline? Maybe if you sit on the beach and/or watch TV all day long, but that sounds kind of miserable if done for more than a few weeks.

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#113
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have noticed the same thing, but not from age, instead I attribute it to ux/ui. People used to know how to type a url into an address bar. If they didnt type it correctly it didnt work. They knew how to type an email address. Now for the life of people, its actually uncomfortable to type example.com without a space into an address bar and go directly to a site and not to google. They purposely put a space between t…

I am a senior software engineer and I do the "google instead of type the domain name" thing intentionally every time... I want to be sure I don't mistype the domain. It is not semi-unconscious... it is very much intentional.

Unless, of course, you're looking for Sci-hub or Library Genesis, in which case Google will suggest you every thinkable misspelling of the domain but the right one :)

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#114

Not only early retirement but any kind of retirement that gets the retiree in a mode that they don't have to try anymore will result in cognitive decline. I am seeing this in my dad who has been retired for ten years now. Throughout his work life he was a sharp hard working banker. Now he uses his age and retirement as an excuse for not trying. Just yesterday he wanted me to order something for him from Amazon. I tol…

Poor guy. Maybe you should hang out with your dad and show him?

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correlation is not causation.

Brain volume by age: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316307676/figure/fi... Various forms of intelligence by age: https://miro.medium.com/max/1038/1*ccb0bgIqgebwJWTdMGMXXQ.pn... If this correlation isn't causation, then I'm not sure what is.

Your chart seems to indicate software development related intelligence peaks somewhere between 40-60. Given this, why do software companies like young people so much?

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#116

Not only early retirement but any kind of retirement that gets the retiree in a mode that they don't have to try anymore will result in cognitive decline. I am seeing this in my dad who has been retired for ten years now. Throughout his work life he was a sharp hard working banker. Now he uses his age and retirement as an excuse for not trying. Just yesterday he wanted me to order something for him from Amazon. I tol…

To be fair, working with text is really hard on mobile and has regressed a long way from general purpose computers like the pc. To undo you have to shake the fucking thing, and text selection takes time and patience (if you can select the text at all!)

I don’t know how many times I’ve been frustrated at my iphone for not having any way to undo. Who thougt this was a good idea? There was a thread the other day about obscure iphone commands, but this takes the shaking cake.

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#117
post #72

Not only early retirement but any kind of retirement that gets the retiree in a mode that they don't have to try anymore will result in cognitive decline. I am seeing this in my dad who has been retired for ten years now. Throughout his work life he was a sharp hard working banker. Now he uses his age and retirement as an excuse for not trying. Just yesterday he wanted me to order something for him from Amazon. I tol…

I have noticed the same thing, but not from age, instead I attribute it to ux/ui. People used to know how to type a url into an address bar. If they didnt type it correctly it didnt work. They knew how to type an email address. Now for the life of people, its actually uncomfortable to type example.com without a space into an address bar and go directly to a site and not to google. They purposely put a space between t…

> People used to know how to type a url into an address bar.

People used to know how to write in cursive too. Some skills just get obsolete.

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And maybe a lot earlier than that; > researchers have discovered that Alzheimer’s Disease is preceded by DECADES of gradually worsening glucose hypometabolism. > Brain glucose metabolism can be reduced by as much as 25% long before any memory problems become obvious. As a psychiatrist who specializes in the treatment of college students, I find it positively chilling that scientists have found evidence of glucose hyp…

As a man in my mid twenties, should I ask my doctor to check if I have glucose hypometabolism?

What would you be able to do with this information?

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess this is why you should work less hard and do more to cultivate hobbies. I can’t imagine retiring and doing nothing. So many projects.

I totally agree. I have so many interests and so little time. I can't wait until I can retire so that I can focus on the things that really interest me. I'm hoping to form groups of like minded people with similar hobbies. I envision my future as one of those old dudes playing chess in the park, except chess would be replaced with one of my many interests.

I also have this intention. I am about 15-20 years from retirement but I have palpable fears that I will forsake my dreams of doing something creative, falling into the rut that I've seen my older relatives and friends follow.

You do meet the odd creative and intelligent senior but they are the minority. I hope I fall into that category when I retire!

Post reply on HN