If you want to avoid developing some form of dementia later in life, then you might want to avoid a career in manual labor. According to a new study, scientists found that people who have jobs that require the use of one’s intellect are much less likely to lose their cognitive skills when they get older.
But at the same time, engaging in physical activities in one’s leisure time can aid cognitive health.
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“Our work also highlights what is called the physical activity paradox – the association of leisure time physical activity with better cognitive outcomes, and how work-related physical activity can lead to worse cognitive outcomes,” explained the study’s author, Vegard Skirbekk, a professor of Population and Family Health at Columbia Public Health.
Occupational physical activity (PA), said the researchers who are from the Norwegian National Centre of Ageing and Health, the Butler Columbia Aging Center and the Population and Family Health at Columbia Public Health, is engaging in physical labor for work.
The researchers reviewed 7,005 participants in their study, of whom 902 of were diagnosed with dementia later in life.
“Consistently working in an occupation with intermediate or high occupational PA was linked to an increased risk of cognitive impairment, indicating the importance of developing strategies for individuals in physically demanding occupations to prevent cognitive impairment.
“Higher occupational physical demands in later adulthood have previously been linked to smaller hippocampal volume and poorer memory performance,” the researchers said.
“Similarly, individuals working in physically hazardous jobs or with high job demands – psychological or physical – combined with low job control have been found to perform poorer on cognitive tests in later age.”
The worst professions to have, said the researchers, are sales, nursing assistant, caregiving, farming and animal production.
In other words, find a career where you don’t need to spend all day on your feet exerting yourself physically. But if you work in an office and/or are seated all the time, then be sure to find some sort of physical activity to engage in regularly in your leisure time.
It should also be noted that dementia rates are increasing because people are living longer.
