Barbara Cherry, Ph.D., speaks at the Ruby Gerontology Center on Saturday morning.
MARIAH CARRILLO / Daily Titan

Adjusting to life after retirement can be daunting for some. After a lifetime of work, a daily schedule devoid of activity can take a psychological toll on retirees.

Maintaining mental sharpness becomes a priority as retirees age, according to Barbara Cherry, Ph.D., a psychology professor who presented a session called “Psychology of Retirement” at the Ruby Gerontology Center on Saturday.

Darcy Krulisky, 62, attended the class. She was an assistant principal at a private school before being placed into “forced retirement,” due to the numbers at her school dropping.

“My life right now is about the job search, but I’m looking, saying, ‘Okay.’ At some point you have to be realistic and say, ‘Okay, maybe instead I just need to enjoy retirement,” Krulisky said.

She has been participating in classes like the “Psychology of Retirement” to explore her options.

Cherry presented techniques to maintain cognitive health for retirees. Laura Zettel-Watson, Ph.D., spoke about maintaining and enhancing social connections during the transition to retirement.

Cherry has been working with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute for about eight to 10 years, collecting data for cognitive health. She presented a summary of her research during the “Psychology of Retirement” class.

Cherry explained that cognitive function involved memory, how quickly people processed information and how people made decisions.

She encouraged incorporating cognitive health into a daily routine by doing meaningful activities, exercising bodies and exercising brains. Her research showed that doing so can improve mental health, vitality and physical function.

In order to exercise the body, Cherry suggests taking stairs instead of elevators, parking farther from the door and walking the dog. She said learning a new language, playing games and doing something differently will help exercise the brain.

When Zettel-Watson spoke about maintaining and enhancing social connections, she shared research which showed that social support was associated with lower levels of depression, loneliness and anxiety.

She explained that it gave higher levels of life satisfaction and happiness. People with better social support also had fewer health problems, faster disease recovery and longer life, according to Zettel-Watson.

She defined social support as “resources and interactions provided by others that may be useful for helping a person to cope with a problem.”

People receive this support from their social network, or “social convoy.” Zettel-Watson emphasized that this social convoy is made up of people who are directly in our lives, not “Facebook friends.”

She said that as people age, they have a growing awareness that the time left to live is limited. A structural change in social network occurs, which involves the shedding of less important relationships.

Ways to enhance social ties after retirement include staying connected to co-workers, volunteering for a favorite cause, joining a social group or taking a new class.

“Psychology of Retirement” was part of a series of “Transitions in Retirement Essentials” classes on Saturdays. The next presentation, “Looking, Feeling and Acting Younger than Your Stated Age,” will be held on Sept. 21 at 9:30 a.m. in the Ruby Gerontology Center.