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Human rights and the older worker: changes in work capacity with age
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
|April 1, 1987
Summary
Physical working capacity declines with age, impacting older workers in physically demanding jobs. Training can reverse biological aging, but fair retirement testing remains a challenge.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health
- Gerontology
- Physiology
Background:
- Aging physical working capacity impacts older adults' employability in strenuous occupations.
- Declines in aerobic power, muscular strength, and thermal load tolerance are key factors.
- Inter-individual aging variation and sex-based physiological differences complicate retirement criteria.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the challenges in setting fair retirement criteria for physically demanding jobs.
- To address the impact of aging on physical working capacity and employability.
- To investigate the role of training in mitigating age-related physical decline.
Main Methods:
- Review of factors affecting physical working capacity in aging populations.
- Analysis of physiological differences between sexes and age groups.
- Discussion of the efficacy of vigorous training on biological age.
Main Results:
- Physical capacity decline due to aging affects employability in heavy work.
- Standardized retirement criteria are difficult due to significant inter-individual variation in aging.
- Vigorous training can reduce biological age components by up to 20 years.
Conclusions:
- Enforced retirement policies face challenges due to variable aging rates and physiological differences.
- Individuals maintaining physical condition through lifestyle choices should not be unfairly penalized.
- Developing valid tests to identify physically fit older workers is a significant medico-legal challenge.