The results are based on the population survey “How are you?”, Where the Central Jutland Region is considered to provide a comprehensive picture of a national trend.
Here, the curve of the population’s state of stress over decades resembles a hockey stick. It is at the top of the very young and then falls steadily downwards over the years to go all the way to the bottom of the 65-year-olds.
And then it rises in the mid or late 70s.
– It is a marked pattern in several studies, says senior researcher Finn Breinholt Larsen from Defactum.
He points out that young people have great challenges with education, work and finding a partner and starting a family. Since then, the work takes up a lot of space for a number of years.
– In the years 65 to 74, on the other hand, there has often been more control over the finances and family, and you have achieved what you were supposed to in the labor market. Challenges are getting smaller, he says.
Benny Bjerregaard from Ajstrup south of Aarhus recognizes this pattern.
He will be 65 years old in a few weeks. He retired in 2020 after working in the healthcare sector as a nurse and sosu assistant for 45 years.
– I was really ready to stop and also thought I had given my. I enjoy my new life to that degree, he says.
At a late age and as the father of three grown children, he met in 2005 with her husband Herman, with whom he now enjoys life in the cottage.
– We met late in life. Therefore, it also means something to me that we can get the most out of each other. As well as having time for our common five children and a sea of grandchildren, says Benny Bjerregaard.
As a former shop steward, he has seen far too many stop too late when they were worn down completely. That is why he enjoys life as chairman of the local winter swimming club with a morning dip in the sea several times a week all year round.
– Most of us are retired, and now we have plenty of time to meet and talk over the hedges, he says.
According to senior researcher Finn Breinholt Larsen, the lack of stress in the 65- to 74-year-olds is based on several things in addition to work, family and job.
– Most older people today are better off in terms of health than before. At the same time, the Danish pension system is at the top internationally, so many older people are broadly reasonably well off financially as pensioners, he says.
At the same time, he points out that most people along the way become better at dealing with stress and slipping off the worst hassle of life.
He expects us to see many more part-time jobs in their final years in the job market.
– Many people like to go to work. But they want to turn down the pressure a bit. It benefits both the employee, who can last longer, and the workplace, which can then continue to draw on the employee’s experience for a longer period of time, he says.
David Vincent Nielsen is a loneliness consultant at Ældre Sagen and also points to enjoying the good years before the stress curve for the oldest Danes rises significantly again.
– In the mid and late 70s, there is a loss of ability to function either one’s own or that of the spouse or perhaps death. Men live almost 80 years and women just over 83 years. So around 80, the losses start to come around one with increasing concerns as a result, he says.
– One can therefore say that the years from 64 to up to the 70s is the period in life where things get much better until it gets worse again.
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