The true value of age and cunning

Part-time work is best for mental acuity in the over-forties – but does it matter?

Research shows mental acuity for the over-40s decreases if they work full time. Paul Hackett / Reuters

With all the focus about the need to work longer into our senior years because of our increased life expectancy, a contrarian message is coming from Australian researchers who recommend that those over the age of 40 should cut down their working hours to part time.

As we reported this week, the analysis of 25,000 Australians by University of Melbourne economists is that working more than 25 hours a week harms the brainpower of people over the age of 40. While those who worked part time were more intellectually nimble than those who did not work at all, factors such as workplace stress mean those who do a full 40-plus hour week suffered from decreased memory, as well as compromised verbal and spatial intelligence.

While there are elements of this that ring true, others seem at odds with how the world actually operates. While on a strictly scientific basis it’s likely that our brains peak in our early twenties, that tells only part of the story. By the time we hit our forties, we are rich in experience and that ought to make up for any cognitive shortfall. This principle is the basis of the aphorism that age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.

For professionals, this combination of skill, intelligence and experience usually means we tend to make better decisions, and far more quickly than in the early years of our careers, so there is a good chance that we can do in 25 hours what might have taken a full 40 hours as a fresh graduate.

This debate also ignores an obvious factor: regardless of the relationship between intellectual capacity and age, the reality is we all need to keep earning money. Reducing our working week to part time might help our mental acuity but it won’t pay the bills. A university-educated professional will probably have been working for only 20 years at the age of 40 but is likely to live for another 50 years. Even with the mental deficiencies of age, it does not take great intellectual acuity to realise that working part time will not pay for a long and prosperous retirement.