The perfect age to retire according to the world's 'longest-serving physician'

The idea of retiring seems enticing; ending years upon years of long weeks at work to spend your days doing whatever you want.

If you're counting down the years until your retirement age of 65, one physician said that you might want to reconsider.

As reported by Reader's Digest, a Japanese doctor urged people to never clock out of the workforce. Yes, you read that right. Never.

In an interview with The Japan Times two years ago, Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, who was "one of the world's longest-serving physicians and educators" and had since 1941 worked as a doctor and teacher at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo and St. Luke's College of Nursing, respectively (and served as chairman of both organisations' board of trustees), said not retiring was one of his secrets to living a long, healthy life.

"There is no need to ever retire, but if one must, it should be a lot later than 65," said Hinohara, who has penned around 150 books, including the best-selling Living Long, Living Good.

"The current retirement age was set at 65 half a century ago when the average life expectancy in Japan was 68 years and only 125 Japanese were over 100 years old. Today, Japanese women live to be around 86 and men 80, and we have 36,000 centenarians in our country. In 20 years, we will have about 50,000 people over the age of 100," he added.

Keeping busy throughout the senior years can help give elderly people a sense of purpose and accomplishment. These are key traits to keeping the brain healthy and switched on as the body ages, he said.

Hinohara practiced what he preached. He lived until the age of 105, treating patients and working up to 18 hours a day up until a few months before his death in 2017.

Vocabulary/Expressions:

1. enticing - extremely attractive and makes you want to get it or to become involved with it.

2. clock out - to leave work.

3. centenarian - someone who is 100 years old or more.

4. life expectancy - the length of time that a living thing, especially a human being, is likely to live.

5. Practice what you preach. - to behave in the way you tell other people to behave.

Questions:

1. What makes retirement enticing?

2. Why are we encouraged to never clock out of the workforce or to retire later?

3. What, in your opinion, is the ideal age for retirement? Why do you think so?

4. At this stage of your life, are you beginning to make plans for your retirement years? Why?

5. What are the three things people usually like to accomplish/have before and after retirement?