Retirement transition as a window of opportunity for health behavioural changes

Abstract Background Transitioning from working life into retirement brings flexibility to daily time use, while work-related stressors are also removed, which may have extensive impact on health behaviours. The Finnish Retirement and Aging (FIREA) study was established in 2013 to understand in detail the short-term and long-term effects of work and retirement on health behaviours. Methods Participants of the FIREA study have been followed up with annual surveys, accelerometer and clinical measurements during retirement transition into post-retirement years up to age of 70 years. Their 24-hour movement behaviours were measured using wrist-worn triaxial ActiGraph, and smoking, alcohol use and diet with questionnaires. Results Retirement decreases the proportion of time spent in active behaviours, especially moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, in relative to time spent in passive behaviours, such as sedentary time and sleep. These changes depend on the work characteristics and are associated with changes in body mass index. Conclusions In general retirement transition seems to have beneficial influence on health behaviours, but there are large individual differences, and certain behaviours such as sedentariness tend to increase especially among those retiring from manual occupations.