The Retirement Newsletter: Looking after your mental health in retirement

Issue Number: 195 (48) — Keeping an eye on the little things

Photo by Author — a walk on a beach on a winter’s day — great for your mental health

Welcome

Last week, I wrote about looking after your physical health in retirement; this week, it’s mental health.

Mental Health

I am not a trained health professional, and I have based the following on my experiences and the limited training I have received over the years to support students.

When I was younger, mental health was something that didn’t figure in my life. Yes, there were a few relatives that had — and the phrase used was — “problems with their nerves”, but on the whole, mental health wasn’t discussed. We certainly had no classes on the subject at school.

My first encounter with mental health issues was at university, when two or three people had what were termed “episodes”. Some “episodes” were drug-induced, some not. However, mental health still wasn’t something that was openly discussed.

I first became aware of how many people suffered from mental health issues when I transitioned from being a research scientist with no contact with students to a university lecturer. I can remember being shocked at the number of students (including my…