Working officials often complain of numbing pain after arriving home from a hectic day at work. Have you ever wondered if this crippling pain could cause permanent damage? Well, it appears that some working conditions promote a higher risk of dementia in employees.
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- Some jobs may end up increasing workers’ risk of dementia
- What are ‘demanding jobs’?
Some jobs may end up increasing workers’ risk of dementia
Pexel
According to a recent study published in the scientific journal The Lancet, people who work in more physically demanding jobs may have a higher risk of developing dementia in the future. You can get rid of the “healthy body, healthy mind” ideal now.
The study’s senior author, Vegard Skirbekk, a professor of population and family health at Columbia Public Health, said Sun“Our work also highlights what is called the physical activity paradox (the association of leisure-time physical activity with better cognitive outcomes) and how work-related physical activity can lead to worse cognitive outcomes.”
The study was conducted in collaboration between Vegard’s team, the Norwegian National Center on Aging and Health, and the Butler Columbia Aging Center. At the end of the research, the professionals deduced that “constantly working in an occupation with intermediate or high occupational PA was related to a higher risk of cognitive impairment.”
What are ‘demanding jobs’?
Pexel
In the study, demanding work was defined as any occupation that requires the employee to constantly use arms, legs, and generally just move the entire body. Something like climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and manipulating materials.
Therefore, it would be best to avoid jobs such as nursing assistants, farmers, sales or retail, and livestock production. Researchers came to such a heartbreaking conclusion after taking a sample of more than 7,000 working people and examining the trajectories of occupational physical activity between the ages of 35 to 65 years.
Of the group of 7,000 workers in the sample, 902 were diagnosed with dementia. Based on the data, the researchers concluded that people with physically intensive jobs were 15.5 percent more likely to develop dementia compared to just 9 percent of people with low occupational physical activity.
These jobs not only cause prolonged stress on the human body but often also lack autonomy, which takes a toll on the mind over time. Something like a sales job requires workers to be on their feet for long hours a day and often have little or no autonomy. Similarly, someone who works in the agricultural sector faces a high risk of developing dementia due to their physically intensive work routine that requires them to work hard in the field, especially in developing countries where manual labor is more common.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn