Can Your Job Protect You From Dementia?

Your job might protect you from cognitive decline later in life, especially if it requires a lot of brain power.

A new study found that routine jobs, such as those of mail carriers and road workers, are associated with a 66% greater risk of cognitive decline and a 37% higher chance of dementia compared to more cognitively stimulating jobs.

Researchers analyzed data from over 7,000 people in Norway and learned that people engaged in mentally stimulating jobs in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s were less likely to experience cognitive decline in their 70s.

“If you use your brain, you’re not going to lose your brain,” said Dorene M. Rentz, PsyD, a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the study.

Jobs that involve mental stimulation, including those in education and engineering, may help build a cognitive reserve that protects against cognitive decline. This reserve may allow people to adapt to Alzheimer’s-related brain changes and potentially delay or avoid the onset of dementia symptoms.

“The whole idea is that there are extra neuronal connections or pathways that the brain utilizes to perform a task. If you have additional brain networks, and one isn’t working, then it goes over and finds another one in order to be able to complete a task appropriately,” Rentz said.

The new study suggests that mentally challenging jobs can help build cognitive reserve, but that doesn’t mean physical laborers or retired people are out of luck.

“Our study shows that it is never too late—or a waste of time—to start learning something new. All cognitively demanding activities later in life contribute to strengthening one’s cognitive reserve,” said Trine Holt Edwin, MD, PhD, an author of the new study and a researcher in geriatric medicine at Oslo University Hospital.

Work isn’t the only solution to protecting your brain. Activities such as learning to play a musical instrument, taking a dance class, reading, writing, or solving word or math puzzles can all help stimulate the brain.

“The ideal circumstance is that throughout life, you’re stimulating and building those networks,” said Michael Rosenbloom, MD, FAAN, an associate professor of neurology and a behavioral neurologist with UW Medicine’s Memory and Brain Wellness Center.

Even having a graduate degree doesn’t fully protect your brain if you’re not continually engaged in “intellectually stimulated” activities, Rosenbloom added.

There is no proven treatment or preventative therapy for dementia, and some risk factors, like age, genetics, and social determinants of health, are hard or impossible to control. Most experts recommend focusing on the lifestyle changes you can control to reduce your risk.

In addition to mental stimulation, staying physically active, eating a healthy diet, and taking care of your physical and mental health are also crucial. Researchers have linked social isolation with an almost 50% increased risk of dementia, so it’s essential to maintain social connections as you age.

“It’s more than just stimulating activities; you need all these other components to optimize brain function,” Rentz said.