If you’re counting down the days to retirement and collecting your monthly social security check, you may want to tap the brakes on that.

No, it’s not just because our country is riddled with debt that calls into question the solvency of social security and other entitlements, but rather because the collecting of what’s rightfully yours could be harmful to your health.  

Those are the claims of a pair of researchers that have dug into the numbers, and their findings are quite eye-opening.

Fox News has the details.

Is the thought of looming retirement and availability of Social Security killing you? Two researchers say yes.

Maria D. Fitzpatrick of Cornell University and Timothy J. Moore of the University of Melbourne said they analyzed the mortality rates in the U.S. and noticed that many older Americans – but disproportionally men who retire at 62 – are affected by sudden increased rates of death.

“A lot happens in our early 60s. Some change jobs, scale back working hours or retire. Our health-care coverage may shift. We may have fewer financial resources, or we may begin collecting Social Security,” Fitzpatrick told The Wall Street Journal.

“About one-third of Americans immediately claim Social Security at 62. Ten percent of men retire in the month they turn 62.”

Coincidentally, the researchers have discovered an increasing mortality rate among men aged 62 and older.

Fitzpatrick offers up some thoughts on why that’s the case.

The researcher blames the increased mortality on the retirement as retirees tend to withdraw from life and no longer see the point in engaging.

“Retirement could have positive long-run benefits for your health because you’re taking better care of yourself.”

“Or it could be that, in the long run, retirement has a negative effect. You can think of how a retiree slowly withdraws from the world because he no longer has any reason to engage,” she told the WSJ.

So is there anything to see here or is this just a random coincidence?

We can’t say for certain one way or the other, but the findings of the researchers offer up some interesting food for thought.

Not only do we have to worry about whether or not social security will even be around when we retire, but we also have to factor in whether or not it may be hazardous to our health.

Source: Fox News