Which Job Has the Lowest Risk of Alzheimer’s? (And What That Can Teach You About Avoiding Dementia)
Harvard researchers looked at 443 professions to see which had the lowest risk of Alzheimer’s with fascinating results.
EXPERT OPINION BY JESSICA STILLMAN, CONTRIBUTOR, INC.COM @ENTRYLEVELREBEL
When it comes to reducing your risk of Alzheimer’s, experts repeat the same (sensible) advice again and again. Exercise, don’t smoke, stay intellectually and socially active. But it’s not just your lifestyle that impacts your chances of staying sharp in old age. It’s also what you do for a living.
A big surprise upside of driving a taxi
To figure out what jobs, if any, are linked with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s a team of Harvard researchers examined data on more than nine million people in 443 different occupations. The results were published in the BMJ. Two types of professionals, they discovered, suffer from the disease at incredibly low rates.
The two occupations with the lowest Alzheimer’s mortality
“The two occupations with the lowest Alzheimer’s mortality are ambulance drivers and taxi drivers,” Anupam Jena, one of the scientists involved in the research, explained to Harvard Magazine.
Navigating unpredictable, busy city streets doesn’t just lower your risk a little. The researchers were shocked to learn just one percent of taxi drivers die of Alzheimer’s compared to almost four percent of the general population.
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They found no such protective effects for another type of dementia that stems from reduced blood flow in the brain. Meanwhile, other types of vehicle operators like bus drivers and delivery drivers showed no decreased risk of Alzheimer’s.
These last two facts helped scientists understand why
These last two facts helped scientists understand why driving a taxi seems to stave off Alzheimer’s. Researchers have previously examined the brains of London taxi drivers, who must memorize more than 25,000 streets in central London in order to earn professional certification. These studies revealed their hippocampi, a section of the brain used for spacial memory and navigation, is significantly enlarged. It just so happens that this region is one of the first to fail in people with Alzheimer’s.
The theory is that jobs that routinely tax this section of the brain strengthen it, thus helping to prevent Alzheimer’s. This fact also explains why bus drivers and others who pilot fixed routes see no such benefits.
Source: www.inc.com
