Feeling stressed at work because you have a tough, mentally demanding job? It could make life more difficult for you today, but new research suggests it may reduce the risk that you will develop Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia after you retire.
Mental health experts from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research who analyzed nearly two decades of medical records of 4,182 older Americans found those in mentally challenging jobs were less likely to suffer serious memory losses and other cognitive declines later in life.
The implication: Job stress tied to mental demands may help keep the mind sharp as we age — a finding consistent with other studies linking mental health and activities that challenge the mind.
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"Based on data spanning 18 years, our study suggests that certain kinds of challenging jobs have the potential to enhance and protect workers' mental functioning in later life," said Gwenith Fisher, a faculty associate at UM and assistant professor of psychology at Colorado State University.
Study participants were interviewed about multiple times between 1992 and 2010, starting when they were in their 50s and 50s. They worked in a wide variety of jobs over periods of more than 25 years, on average, before retiring.
The researchers examined the mental requirements of each job, including such tasks as analyzing data, developing objectives and strategies, making decisions, solving problems, evaluating information, and thinking creatively.
They also assessed participants' mental functioning, using standard tests of memory and mental status, and evaluated their levels of overall health, depression, economic status, and demographic characteristics, including years of education.
The results showed that people who had worked in jobs with greater mental demands were more likely to have better memories before they retired and more likely to have slower declines in memory after retiring than people who had worked in jobs with fewer mental demands.
"These results suggest that working in an occupation that requires a variety of mental processes may be beneficial to employees," said Jessica Faul, an ISR assistant research scientist.
"It's likely that being exposed to new experiences or more mentally complex job duties may benefit not only newer workers but more seasoned employees as well. Employers should strive to increase mental engagement at work and, if possible, outside of work as well, by emphasizing life-long learning activities."
The study, which was published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, was funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration.
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