The Retirement Wisdom Podcast Why You’ll Want a Hobby – Ashley Merryman
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What if I told you the activities you dismiss as “just hobbies” were much more than just fun – and could be one of the most powerful tools for building resilience and maintaining mental sharpness as we age? Ashley Merryman reveals groundbreaking findings that challenge how we think about leisure time and its profound impact on our long-term health. From doctors now prescribing hobbies as medicine to studies finding that singing in a chorus creates instant social bonds, the science behind recreational activities is remarkable.
Merryman shares fascinating research demonstrating that even modest engagement—like cooking something special twice a week—can deliver measurable cognitive benefits. Whether you’re looking to boost your brain health, combat isolation, or to find more meaning in your free time, this conversation will change how you view your pastimes. Discover why hobbies aren’t just fun—they’re good for you, in more ways than we think.
Ashley Merryman joins us from Washington, DC.
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Bio
Ashley Merryman is a two-time New York Times bestselling author who is a frequent contributor to US News and World Report. She who recently wrote a guest column for YOLO, a US News newsletter for retirees and those thinking about retirement on the science of hobbies – finding that hobbies are a key to a healthier, happier life.
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For More on Ashley Merryman
Your Hobby May Be the Secret to a Happier, Healthier Life
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Podcast Conversations You May Like
Learning is a Lifetime Sport – Tom Vanderbilt
Inward Traveler – Francine Toder PhD
Live Life in Crescendo – Cynthia Covey Haller
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Mentioned in This Podcast Conversation
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About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast
There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.
About Retirement Wisdom
I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.
Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.
About Your Podcast Host
Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.
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Wise Quotes
On the Benefits of Hobbies
“The research is very clear. There have been studies, large scale studies, 20,000 people in 15 European countries, 90,000 people in another 15 or 16 countries, and they are consistently finding that hobbies lead to lower likelihood of depression, lower anxiety, better well-being, better physical health, better overall life satisfaction.”
On Hobbies & Your Brain
“So we’ve got these huge benefits in terms of cognition, well-being, psychology, but researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas decided, Well, let’s see if we can find this in brain scanning. So they did a really interesting experiment with seniors, taking a class either in digital photography, quilting, or some combination of both, and then they had a comparison group which was just doing social stuff. So they would meet every week, and each group were all together, they were spending about 13 to 15 hours a week, so it was a pretty substantial amount of time. For the class, it was about a two-hour class, and then they would practice what they learned. In this social comparison group, they didn’t learn anything, but they would, you know, have a weak theme. Okay, this week, we’re going to talk about travel. So people will just tell us about their stories, about where they’ve been, where they want to go, that kind of thing. Next week, let’s sit down and watch a movie. So mostly focused on social, not learning. And what they found was that both groups within 14 weeks actually showed improvement in their brain development. And the language that the researchers used was that it literally resulted in a more youth-like area of production and functioning of the brain. The difference, though, between those two groups is that high challenge group, the group that was actively learning. You saw this pattern in at least five different areas of the brain. The social group only saw that pattern in one part of the brain. So there was some progress but not nearly as much in that active learning, pushing yourself to figure out how to do something, taking in newer information. But both of them had some progress and they actually saw the same improvement in brain function a year later. So, the stories in terms of, Oh well, after 25, your brain is an inevitable decline, is absolutely wrong, and one of the fastest ways to do that is just to learn a new hobby.”
On Singing as a Hobby
“Research has actually shown that even perfect strangers, while you’re singing, you’re breathing. and even your heart rate, start getting in sync with the conductor so you’re literally having this joint physiological and emotional experience going along with everyone. Maybe it’s beautiful. maybe you all screw up and have a collective laugh. because Oh wow that was really not what you were looking for but you have this joint shared purpose and this joint shared emotional experience that’s very unique to singing.”