In the video: surgery to remove a brain tumor with complete combustion, in Soroka/photo: Soroka Hospital, editing: Tomer Levy
The more your work requires increased use of your brain and memory abilities, the better your cognitive abilities, as well as your memory, will function over the years, especially with increasing age. This is the conclusion of a study published this week in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The research carried out in Norway examined 7,000 people from 305 different professions, and examined to what extent the subjects used their brains during their work. "We examined the demands of different jobs and found that cognitive stimulation at work at different stages of life - during the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s - was associated with a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment after the age of 70," said the author of the study, D. R. Trin Holt Edwin from Oslo University Hospital.The
researchers measured the cognitive stimulation of the study participants while performing manual tasks such as controlling equipment or working in a factory and compared this to the cognitive stimulation of people working in jobs where they had to analyze information and interpret it for other people.
The profession that will protect your brain the most - teaching
Later, the researchers tested the memory and cognitive ability of the study participants over the age of 70.
The study found that people working in jobs with the lowest cognitive demands had a 66% higher risk of mild cognitive impairment compared to those who worked in jobs with higher cognitive demands.
However, the authors noted that cognitive demands vary on an individual basis and even people working in the same job may have different cognitive demands. They also noted that this study only shows an association, but not causation.
"These results indicate that both education and work that challenges the brain during the career play a decisive role in lowering the risk of cognitive impairment later in life," explained Edwin. "Further research is needed to pinpoint the specific occupational tasks that are cognitively challenging and most beneficial for maintaining thinking and memory skills."
The job that resulted in the greatest cognitive stimulation was teaching and the job with the lowest cognitive stimulation, according to the researchers, is a housewife or postman.
Another 2016 study found that the following jobs help maintain healthy brain function: manager, teacher, lawyer, social worker, engineer, physicist, doctor, dentist and pharmacist.
In addition, a study published in the Lancet last year revealed the five jobs that put people most at risk of dementia - salespeople, shop assistants, nurses' aides, farmers and livestock workers.
Nursing and sales jobs "are often characterized by a lack of autonomy, prolonged standing, hard work, rigid working hours, stress, a higher risk of burnout and sometimes also uncomfortable working days," the researchers explained.