University of Maryland researchers found that serious diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease were less prevalent in those who were still carrying out some kind of employment. Those workers also were healthier mentally and performed better day-to-day than those who gave up work altogether.

Twelve-thousand people aged between 51 and 61 were interviewed over a six-year period about finance, health, employment history and retirement.

The findings suggested that a form of "bridge employment", part-time, self-employment or casual work, by older people in the same field as their pre-retirement career could improve mental health compared with retirees who stopped working all together.

However, those who took up work in an unrelated field to their previous career did not experience the improvement in their mental health. Researchers say this could be because taking a job in a different field could lead to stress caused by the new environment.

The study backed up the adage that people who gave up full-time work could die soon afterwards.

It also found that pensioners struggling with finance were more likely to take up work in a field unrelated to their previous career.

"Given the economic recession, we will probably see more people considering post-retirement employment," study co-author Dr Mo Wang, told the Daily Telegraph.

This, according to the authors, would be a good thing for all concerned. The findings are reported in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association.

Your say: When you retire, will you stop working altogether? What kind of work do you think would be good for retirees? Do you think this study will help older people when making decisions about retiring?