Work capacity and aging

Maintaining a good work ability depends on satisfactory health and employment status, which is supported by suitable working conditions and correct life styles. From the biological perspective, ageing means a foreseeable progressive and overall deterioration of the various physiological systems, but not of such a kind and severity to consider most people over 50 as too old or unfit for work, as has been shown by several studies that assessed work ability not only in terms of biological age, but of functional age and actual work output. From the physio-pathological perspective, we can observe either illnesses associated with the passage of time or age-related changes that might precipitate diseases, as well as environmental changes that modulate ageing and developmental changes that accelerate or retard ageing. From the practical point of view, it should taken into account that job demands often do not follow the natural biological and functional changes of the individual, consequently the relative work load can be higher in older workers. On the other hand, ageing also means a professional growth in terms of strategic ability, shrewdness, wisdom and experience. The high interindividual variability of physical, mental and social conditions that is observed with the increase in age makes it necessary to adopt flexible and personally tailored measures, as shown by recent surveys in some European countries aimed at reducing age discrimination and work disability, and at promoting work ability by means of actions directed towards both improvement of work organisation and support of psycho-physical conditions of older workers.