Can You Believe It? New Study Suggests These 5 Jobs Put Workers At A Greater Risk Of Dementia

Working officials often complain about mind-numbing pain after they get home from a hectic day at work. Have you ever wondered if this mind-numbing pain could lead to permanent damage? Well, it looks like some working conditions do promote an increased risk of dementia in employees.

Some Jobs Can End Up Increasing Risk Of Dementia In Workers

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According to a recent study published in the science journal The Lancet, individuals who work in more physically demanding jobs can end up at a greater risk of developing dementia in the future. You can dump the "healthy body, healthy mind" ideal now.

Head author of the study, Vegard Skirbekk, a professor of population and family health at Columbia Public Health, told The Sun, "Our work also highlights what is called the physical activity paradox¡ªthe association of leisure time physical activity with better cognitive outcomes¡ªand how work-related physical activity can lead to worse cognitive outcomes."

The study was conducted in collaboration between Vegard¡¯s team, the Norwegian National Centre of Ageing and Health, and the Butler Columbia Ageing Center. At the end of the research, the professionals deduced that "consistently working in an occupation with intermediate or high occupational PA was linked to an increased risk of cognitive impairment."

What Are ¡®Demanding Jobs¡¯?

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In the study, demanding jobs were defined as any occupation that requires the employee to constantly use their arms, legs, and, in general, just move their whole body. Something like climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.

So, it would be best to avoid getting into jobs like nursing assistants, farmers, sales or retail, and livestock production. The researchers came to such a harrowing conclusion after they took a sample of over 7K working individuals and examined the trajectories of occupational PA from the ages of 35 to 65.

Out of the 7K pool of sample workers, 902 were diagnosed with dementia. According to the data, the researchers came to the conclusion that people with physically intensive jobs had a 15.5 percent higher chance of contracting dementia compared to only 9 percent for low occupational PA.

These jobs not only cause prolonged stress on the human body but also often lack autonomy, which affects the mind over time. Something like a sales job requires workers to stand on their feet for long hours in a day and often have minimal to no autonomy to speak of. Similarly, somebody working in the agricultural sector faces a high risk of developing dementia due to their physically intensive work routine that requires them to toil in fields, especially in developing countries where work by hand is more prevalent.

Tell us what you think about this new study in the comments below.

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