Shared from brainandlife.org.
After a lifetime of working, staying home can be a major adjustment, says Kirk R. Daffner, MD, director of the Alzheimer Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Work keeps people physically and mentally active, which promotes and preserves cognition and other neurologic functions, he says, so finding new ways to keep busy is key to staying healthy.
Find a purpose
Before retiring, talk to partners, family members, and other loved ones about what you might do when you stop working, says Dr. Daffner. After Bob Dumas, of Cary, NC, retired in 2019 at age 57 from his job at a radio station due to various neurologic conditions, including brain cancer, he started sharing his experience with other brain tumor survivors over the air, with people who reached out, and with medical students at nearby Duke University. He and his wife, Lu, also established a charity, Bob’s Buddies, which raises awareness and money for pediatric brain tumor research. He has “dedicated his heart and soul to helping children with brain tumors,” says Lu, adding that people want to feel needed.