Get a mentally challenging job, reduce risk of loss of brain function and cognitive skills, says study

We have often heard the term dementia and also heard about Alzheimer’s Disease. You may have seen some old people unable to carry out basic jobs like eating, taking care of their toilet visits on their own etc. Many cannot recognise their own family members, look lost and often lose their way back home if they venture out on their own.

They found that people with cognitively stimulating jobs had a 23 per cent lower risk of developing dementia compared with those whose jobs were not considered stimulating.

Cognitively stimulating jobs were defined as those that allowed people to make decisions independently and required them to perform demanding tasks.

107,800 participants with an average age of 45 took part in this study. The study included participants from the US and Europe who were free of dementia at baseline (between 1986 and 2002). The follow-up to identify dementia lasted until 2017.

Researchers have found that people who have more mentally stimulating jobs have a significantly lower risk of developing dementia later in life. Cognitively stimulating “active” jobs include demanding tasks and high job decision latitude (also known as job control), while non-stimulating “passive” jobs are those with low demands and lack of job control. This finding has led them to conclude that such cognitive stimulation could postpone the onset of symptoms.

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