Five jobs that put workers at greater risk of dementia: Study

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Studies have shown that staying active is the best way to maintain a healthy body and mind.

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However, new research suggests that higher levels of physical activity on the job might not be a good thing.

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Researchers out of the Norwegian National Centre of Ageing and Health, the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and the Butler Columbia Aging Center found that people who have physically exhausting jobs over long periods of time are at greater risk of dementia and cognitive impairment.

The jobs the authors specified as at risk may be a little surprising when one thinks of “physically exhausting” careers.

“Consistently working in an occupation with intermediate or high occupational physical activity was linked to an increased risk of cognitive impairment, indicating the importance of developing strategies for individuals in physically demanding occupations to prevent cognitive impairment,” the authors wrote in the study published in The Lancet Regional Health-Europe.

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Duties classified as “physical demanding” are ones that “require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials.”

Occupations such as nursing or sales are “often characterized by a lack of autonomy, prolonged standing, hard work, rigid working hours, stress, a higher risk of burnout, and sometimes … inconvenient working days,” they added.

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“It is critically important to understand how workplace physical activity levels relate to cognitive impairment and dementia,” said Vegard Skirbekk, co-author and professor of population and family health at Columbia Public Health.

“Our work also highlights what is called the physical activity (PA) paradox—the association of leisure time physical activity with better cognitive outcomes, and how work-related physical activity can lead to worse cognitive outcomes.”

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The team used one of the world’s largest population-based studies of dementia, the HUNT4 70+ Study, to examine how occupational physical activity between the ages of 33 and 65 was linked to a risk of developing dementia and mild cognitive impairment after the age of 70.

They analyzed the data of 7,005 participants, 902 of whom were diagnosed with dementia later in life.

Another 2,407 were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.

The results overall found that people doing physically demanding work had a 15.5% higher risk of having dementia or being cognitively impaired.

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That risk fell to 9% for those doing jobs with few physical demands.

The study authors suggested the risk of impairment is higher later in life as workers with more physical demands have a “detrimental effect” on brain health and cognitive function.

Those who leave less time to recuperate and recover from occupational physical activity could lead to “wear and tear” in both the body and brain.

“Our results particularly underscore the need to follow up on individuals with high lifetime occupational, physical activity as they appear to have a greater risk of developing dementia,” Skirbekk observed.

“Future research should assess how occupational physical activity and interventions to reduce occupational physical activity or technological changes leading to altered activity, in combination with other characteristics of the job, relate to dementia and mild cognitive impairment risk in older ages.”

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