Researchers who have highlighted a link between professions requiring significant physical effort and an increased risk of cognitive impairment, point the finger at 5 professions.
- A study reveals that physically demanding jobs can put you at risk of cognitive impairment.
- The researchers identified 5 professions in particular in their scientific article published in The Lancet.
- For the team, the work highlights the “paradox of physical activity”: while it has been proven that physical activity during leisure time protects against dementia, it appears that it increases the risk if it takes place at work.
If our lifestyle has a significant impact on our brain, so do our professional choices. A study of Norwegian National Center of Aging and HealthColumbia Mailman School of Public Health and the Butler Columbia Aging Center shows that occupations with medium or high occupational physical activity were linked to an increased risk of cognitive impairment as we age. In their work published in the journal Tea Lancet Regional Health – Europeresearchers identified 5 jobs at risk.
Dementia: which professions have an increased risk of cognitive decline?
When searching the link between the physical level of work between the ages of 33 and 65 and the signs of cognitive decline at the age of 70 and over, scientists have discovered that individuals who had a physically demanding job in the latter part of working life had a increased risk of having mild cognitive impairment as you age by 15.5%. It was only 9% among people with little physical effort.
Physically demanding jobs are those that “require considerable use of the arms and legs and full-body movements, such as climbing, lifting weights, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.”
The authors also identified in their scientific article 5 professions which were strongly associated with the risk of cognitive decline as we age. It is :
- sellers or cashiers;
- THE care assistants;
- THE caregivers;
- THE farmers;
- THE breeders.
According to the researchers, these 5 jobs with an increased risk of impaired cognitive abilities are characterized by “lack of autonomy, prolonged standing, heavy work, inflexible work schedules, stress, higher risk of burnout and sometimes low socio-economic status and inconvenient working days.”
Physical activity paradox: research to better understand it
“It is extremely important to understand how physical activity levels at work are linked to cognitive impairment and dementia”explains one of the authors, the Pr Vegard Skirbekkin a communicated. “Our work also highlights what is called the physical activity paradox.”
Indeed, a large body of previous work ensures that physical exercise such as dancing, gardening or even cycling as well as the fight against a sedentary lifestyle are essential tools to protect against cognitive decline. It may therefore seem surprising that physical activity at work leads, for its part, to reduced cognitive abilities later in life.
If the researchers cannot yet fully explain their discovery, they have put forward several explanations.plausible”. They pointed out, among other things, that “higher occupational physical demands in adulthood have previously been associated with volume hippocampal smaller and with poorer memory performance”during previous work.
“Our results particularly highlight the need to follow people with high occupational and physical activity over the course of their lives, as they appear to have a greater risk of developing dementia,” adds the expert. It is also necessary for him to continue research to understand this paradox between physical activity and cognitive decline and to find preventive measures that can be implemented in the world of work.
