People who keep doing some work in their field after they retire may enjoy better physical and mental health than those who stop work completely or switch to another area of work, according to a U.S. study.

    Researchers from the University of Maryland said the findings suggest that prospective retirees should consider moving into so-called "bridge employment" as a transition to full retirement.

    For their study, Wang and his colleagues used data on more than 12,000 workers in a U.S. health study begun in 1992. Participants, who were between the ages of 51 and 61 at the outset, were surveyed every two years over a six-year period.

    Overall, Wang's team found, people who went into some form of bridge employment reported lower rates of major diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and arthritis during the study period than their counterparts who went straight into full retirement.

    The findings were not explained by older age or worse initial health among people who opted for full retirement, the investigators report in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.

    On top of their better physical health, "bridge" workers also tended to report fewer mental health problems, such as depression.

    The same mental health benefits were not seen, however, when retirees took part-time work in other fields -- possibly, Wang said, because many of these people may have taken those jobs out of financial need rather than choice.

    He noted that the lack of benefit could also stem from the fact that these retirees had to adjust to an unfamiliar job position or had to make lifestyle changes.

    Bridge work, particularly in one's accustomed field, may benefit physical and mental health for a number of reasons, according to Wang.

    In general, he explained, such work may help older adults maintain the active lifestyles they had during their careers and decrease any stress they might feel from the transition into retirement.

    Wang said when it comes to mental health, for instance, bridge work may help by allowing people to keep some of the "role identity" that they have formed over their careers.

    Staying active in general, not only through work, can also benefit retirees' physical health, Wang noted. He added, however, that any mental health benefits are likely to depend on the type of activity -- whether it is something that the person truly enjoys, and that helps ease any stress of moving into retirement.

    據美國一項研究表明，退休后仍然在其以往所從事的領域工作的人身心健康狀況都要優于那些完全不再工作或者改行的人。

    馬里蘭大學的研究者們研究表明那些面臨退休的人應該考慮踏上所謂的"再就業之橋"作為一個退休的完美過渡。

    對于他們的研究，王老師所帶領的研究小組使用了1992年美國超過12,000位工人的健康狀況報告。這些參與者們開始都為51至61歲，之后每兩年測試一次，持續了六年。

    王老師的研究小組一直發現一些去再就業橋的人對于主要疾病如高血壓、心臟病、糖尿病、關節炎等的發病率比參與研究中那些直接完全退休的人要低得多。

    職業健康心理雜志的調查員認為，這些發現不能用選擇完全退休的人上了年紀或是原本身體狀況來解釋。

    在身體健康狀況較為突出的再就業者中，出現例如抑郁癥之類的心理問題似乎也更少。

    然而這些心理健康的好現象并未體現于退休后從事其他行業兼職的人身上-王老師說，這可能是因為他們中許多人做這些工作只是出于經濟因素考慮而不是真心喜歡。

    他同時指出沒有收入來源，使得這些退休人員不得不從事他并不熟悉的工作，以求生活狀態的改變。

    據王老師說，不間斷的工作尤其是在已習慣的行業，可以從很多方面使人身心受益。

    他解釋道，總之這樣的工作有利于退休人員保持以往積極的生活方式，同時減少由完全退休所帶來的一切壓力。

    王老師談到心理健康時，例如：不間斷工作可能會因能夠保持其以往工作形成的一些"角色身份",而使其身心健康受益。

    王老師指出，不僅僅通過工作，一直保持積極地心態，也有益于退休人員的身體健康。然而，任何有益于心理健康的行為都有賴于積極的狀態-不管是不是他真正喜歡的，都有益于減輕進入完全退休狀態的壓力