Thinking jobs may protect against alzheimer's
11 August 2004
by Richard
Conan-Davies
|
Having a job that requires you to do some extra thinking and a bit of creativity thrown in may be part of the help to ward of alzheimers disease. This is according to a recent scientific survey led by Dr. Kathleen Smyth of the University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. In their research published in the Journal Neurology, they looked at 122 alzheimers patients and compared their working lives with 235 normal people across different parts of their working lives. What they found was that those people who had less demanding jobs later in life seemed to result in the cases of alzheimers in their study. But it seemed that having a mentally demanding job in your 30s is key to keeping away alzheimers. Dr. Smyth suggested, amoungst other things that " it could be that higher levels of mental demands result in increased brain cell activity, which may help maintain a 'reserve' of brain cells that resists the effects of Alzheimer's " This study again highlights the importance of keeping a keen mind to ward off dementia. |
|
Related Links
Neurology Journal original abstract
Nature & Science
News
ClearlyExplained.com