These 5 jobs put workers at a greater risk of dementia: new research

Luckily I was a computer programmer/engineer and did recreational stuff like whitewater canoeing and biking. Now I walk in the woods a lot and remove buckthorn from  my trails using mini-chainsaws.

These 5 jobs put workers at a greater risk of dementia: new research

It’s literally “mind-numbing” work.So much for the expression “healthy body, healthy mind”: People who work more physically demanding jobs could be more likely to contract dementia, per a study detailed in the science journal The Lancet. “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,” said head author, Vegard Skirbekk, a professor of Population and Family Health at Columbia Public Health,per the Sun. He and his team conducted the study in collaboration with the Norwegian National Centre of Ageing and Health and the Butler Columbia Aging Center.They deduced that “consistently working in an occupation with intermediate or high occupational PA was linked to an increased risk of cognitive impairment.”Demanding jobs were defined as those 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.” These vocations include salespeople— retail and other — nursing assistants, farmers, and livestock producers. Journalists, as of yet, are apparently safe from occupation-induced Alzheimer’s.Researchers arrived at this frightening conclusion by examining the trajectories of occupational PA at ages 33–65 with “risk of dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at ages 70+.” They specifically analyzed the data of 7,005 participants from the HUNT4 70+ Study — one of the world’s largest population-based studies of dementia.Of the pool, 902 had been diagnosed with dementia later in life while 2,407 were suffering from mild cognitive impairment (which authors noted doesn’t necessarily lead to dementia). The researchers revealed that people in physically demanding lines of work had around a 15.5% higher chance of developing dementia compared to only 9% for low occupational PA. Researchers deduced that there were several reasons for their findings, namely the havoc these gigs wreak on both body and mind.Nursing and sales gigs 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,” per the study.This can several impede brain health in older people as increased physical activity later in life has been “linked to smaller hippocampal volume and poorer memory performance,” researchers wrote. Interestingly, high recreational activity decreases the risk of dementia. On the other side of the job spectrum, researchers speculated that less physically demanding gigs reduce the likelihood of cognitive catastrophe by allowing for more breaks and therefore more recovery time.Interestingly, the same theory doesn’t hold true with higher levels of leisure-time activity, which are conversely associated with a “lower risk of cognitive impairment.”In other words, studies haven’t entirely disproven the “healthy body health mind” mantra. Another theory for this blue-collar brain-wasting link, per the study, is that engineering, administration, and teaching, and other “more cognitively stimulating” gigs likely help people maintain a high level of cognition later in life. Alzheimer’s and dementia affect nearly 6 million people in the US.a 2016 study found that the following jobs help preserve healthy brain function: manager, teacher, lawyer, social worker, engineer, physicist, physician, dentist, and pharmacist.see also; These 5 jobs put workers at a greater risk of dementia: new research.This profession is most likely to make you a drug addict: study“Our results particularly underscore the need to follow up on individuals with high lifetime occupational, and physical activity as they appear to have a greater risk of developing dementia,” concluded Dr. Skirbekk.Of course, this is not the first study to shed light on the link between occupational PA and brain disease — the study references many.However, in former studies, occupational PA was primarily “self-reported” and was therefore prone to recall bias and misinterpretation.This was especially true in older subjects whose memory and interpretation may be impacted by shifts in cognitive function, per the research.Dr. Skirbekk said that future research should assess how occupational physical activity and other factors “relate to dementia and mild cognitive impairment risk in older ages.” This marks an important breakthrough in understanding Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, which reportedly affect 5.8 million people in the United States, per the Centers For Disease Control. In a major breakthrough in July, the US Food and Drug Administration granted traditional approval to Lecanemab, a drug that’s proven to significantly slow the progression of Alzheimer’s.

The Best Jobs for Your Brain

Is your doctor pushing you into one of these complex jobs post-stroke in order to prevent your 33% chance of getting dementia post-stroke?

I probably survived my stroke because my data complex job of computer programmer built up my cognitive reserve.

The Best Jobs for Your Brain 

When it comes to keeping your mind sharp well into old age, some job choices are better than others. (Photo by Getty Images)

How did you choose your career? In a recent LinkedIn survey, the majority of people, 56 percent, said the reputation of a potential employer is what most heavily influences where they decide to work. But the truth is, reputation may not be everything. You may also want to consider how challenging your work is. The mental effort your job requires affects your health long after you’ve left the company, according to a new study in the journal Neurology.

British researchers assessed the cognitive abilities — memory and processing speed, for example — of more than 1,000 older adults, and analyzed whether their former jobs influenced their scores. To do this, they categorized each career by “occupational complexity” in three areas: people, data, and things.

“A job regarded as more complex, in terms of work with people, might include negotiating or mentoring, whereas less complex jobs might involve taking instructions or helping,” study author Alan Gow tells Yahoo Health. Complex people-oriented professions include lawyer, social worker, surgeon, and probation officer, whereas factory worker, painter, and carpet layer are less socially taxing jobs, he says.

Related: The Number One Health Risk for Successful Women

“Similarly, more complex jobs with data might require coordinating and synthesizing data,” says Gow, “whereas less complex jobs might be more likely to include copying or comparing data.” Examples of complex jobs in this category include architect, civil engineer, graphic designer, and musician, whereas less data-intensive careers include construction worker, bus conductor, and telephone operator, he says. 

Complexity of “things” might mean preparing machines for operation or deciding which tools are appropriate for a job. Examples include machine setter and instrument maker, while less complex careers in this category are probation officer and bank manager, says Gow.

So how did job complexity affect mental sharpness later in life? Although the effect wasn’t huge, the 70-year-olds whose former occupations involved high levels of complexity with data and people performed better on memory and thinking tests — even after the researchers accounted for their IQ at age 11 and their level of education. “Complexity of things didn’t seem to be associated with cognitive ability,” says Gow. (However, he says, this finding needs to be replicated.)

One explanation: Careers with high levels of interpersonal and data complexity may build up something called your “cognitive reserve.”

“The brain develops a certain way of working — it establishes pathways that are either efficient or not,” says Ross Andel, an associate professor of aging studies at the University of South Florida. If you work in a challenging environment, your brain may form more efficient networks, potentially masking the negative effects of aging on your mental abilities. As you get older, “the brain is declining quite a bit, but because it has been taught how to work well through complex tasks, it will perform despite the damage,” Andel explains.

A large cognitive reserve might also mean that you maintain more volume in the brain over time, or that you have a larger repertoire of problem-solving skills, says Gow. 

Related: Seniors, Rejoice: Drinking Alcohol May Preserve Your Memory

“It’s the ‘use it or lose it’ idea,” says Andel. If your line of work mentally challenges you — “we’re talking eight hours a day, 40 hours a week — that’s a tremendous amount of mental exercise,” compared to, say, reading a book or working a crossword puzzle for half an hour each day. “Sitting at a job where you’re disengaged for eight hours a day — that’s dangerous,” he says. 

But that doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to mental decline if your office time isn’t exactly mentally demanding. “People may be limited in how much influence they have over the complexity of their job, but we can all look at ways to ensure we get more physically or socially engaged in our leisure time, for example,” says Gow. Train your brain to perform well long after retirement with these simple strategies: 

Find a few hobbies

Your office isn’t the only place you can challenge your brain. In a 2014 study, Andel found that greater work complexity, both with people and data, was associated with better mental ability in old age. But so was participation in leisure activities, especially those with a cognitive or social element, such as reading books or joining clubs. “For someone who is stuck in an occupation with low complexity of working with people, having a good social life might make a difference,” Andel says.

Signing up for social activities may be especially critical for men, since their social lives tend to shrink more significantly than women’s after retirement — a risk factor for cognitive decline, says Deborah Finkel, a professor of psychology at Indiana University Southeast.

Engage with your coworkers

Chained to your desk all day? Make a point to engage in face-to-face interactions with your coworkers. That might mean gathering around the water cooler or even just talking to your boss in person, rather than via email, says Andel. Participating in office politics on occasion may even do your brain a solid: “In the workplace, there are a lot of complexities of social hierarchies and interactions,” says Finkel. “Negotiating all of these hierarchies is apparently very good exercise for your brain.” 

Start exercising 

Working on crossword puzzles will help you do one thing well: crossword puzzles. “Those skills don’t transfer — they’re very specific. So cognitive training is not the answer. Physical exercise is,” says Finkel. “You need to maintain your heart health and blood flow to the brain. That’s the best way to maintain cognitive function.”

Ph.D. Scholarships Available in Brain Repair and Rehabilitation at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Any of you survivors in Oz could ace the interview by pointing out all the research possibilities I have pointed out.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/naturejobs/index.cfm?method=job&id=347090
Employer: Hunter Medical Research Institute
Location:
Posted: October 7, 2013
Expires: December 6, 2013
Requisition number:

Science jobs from Hunter Medical Research Institute: The Centre for Translational for Brain Repair and Rehabilitation (CTBRR) located at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia has two full Ph.D. scholarships available and open to both domestic and international applicants. The successful applicants will be supervised by Dr Rohan Walker (Senior Research Fellow) and Professor Michael Nilsson (Director of the CTBRR and the Hunter Medical Research Institute).
The project associated with the scholarships will utilise animal models of stroke to examine how the recovery environment, following experimentally induced brain injury, can be modified to optimize recovery and brain repair. In examining brain repair, the projects focused on the role of glia and will make extensive use of a recently established multiphoton real time brain imaging platform.
The students will be supervised by both clinical and basic scientists and will be encouraged and supported to undertake some part of their research project at an nationally or internationally recognized centre for stroke research affiliated with the CTBRR. The objective of this international placement is to develop the candidate's own research network, and enrich the quality and scope of their research.
Scholarship The successful applicant will be supported by a scholarship for three and a half years at $25,000 per annum (tax-free), with the opportunity to apply for a 6 month extension. If the successful candidate is an international student, Overseas Student Health Cover will be provided for the duration of their candidature. A full tuition fee scholarship will also be offered to successful international candidates (domestic students undertaking a Research Higher Degree are not required to pay fees). Funding will also be made available to assist with relocation and establishment.
Application We are seeking applications from individuals who are interested in undertaking research who have completed an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science, Psychology, Medicine or equivalent with first class Honours, or Masters. Ideally, preference will be given to applicants that have had experience with animal handling (rats and or mice) as well as immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. They may also have experience with cell culture and basic molecular biology.
Strong proficiency in English is essential (an ILETS score of 6.5 overall with no subtest less than 6.0; or a TOFEL overall score of not less than 93; see also http://www.newcastle.edu.au/policy/000104.html for more details).
Interested applicants should send Dr. Rohan Walker a copy of their CV, academic transcripts, and English proficiency transcript (not required to domestic applicants) to (brain.repair.recovery@gmail.com).
Further information about the Centre for Translational Brain Repair and Rehabilitation (CTBRR)
The CTBRR is located within the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), a joint venture between the University of Newcastle and the Hunter New England area health service. The research undertaken by the centre is interested in developing optimising multi-modal approaches to adapt the physical and social environment to improve recovery from Stroke.

Job search

After being forced out last October I went on the search for a new job. I decided that I wanted to get back into mainframe programming, something I had done with great skill for 25+ years. I created 2 resumes, one chronological which went back 32 years and one functional which summarized my skills and listed months of experience. Resume coaches suggest after you get past a certain age you just use a functional one because it doesn't directly say how old you are. My experience was that recruiters hated that one because they couldn't determine how old your experience was. So I created a composite and just blasted all my experience into one long time period. You hear from the unemployment agency that 85% of all jobs are found by word-of-mouth. In my profession internet job boards are the only way to apply for jobs and you hope that the search firm thinks well enough of your resume to pass it onto the hiring company. I also heard that employers won't hire men with beards. My resume seemed to do the job, I got lots of calls on it but lots fewer references to the hiring managers. I think this was because I only had 8 out of the 10 requirements needed. I didn't get to use  the response I used 32 years ago when I was asked why they should hire me, ' Because I'm the smartest person they will hire'. God I'm arrogant. In February I had a contingent offer from Lockheed-Martin in West Virginia if they got a contract from the government, they didn't get it. Went through three interviews for a MN state colleges job, I think I blew the answer to the question,'Why do you want to work for us?' I had initial interviews for contracts in Bloomington IL, Madison, Omaha and Eveleth,MN. Three phone interviews for an IBM job in East Lansing MI, received and accepted an offer from them. I start there June 20, getting a furnished apt. I get to work on really old school programming language of Assembler, which I actually love doing and am very good at it.


The hiring world has changed. Gone are the days when you walked into a business and applied for a job in person.

"Email your resume," they say. "Go to our website." "Apply online."

Is it easy? Maybe. Is it frustrating? YES.
The internet makes it too easy for employers to hide. Too easy for them to brush off a simple response. And too hard for you to take that next critical step and follow up with the decision-makers after applying for a job.

Contact me if  you would like to get together in Lansing.
Some coding;
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MVI PRODPAGE+1,x'f0'
Continue DS 0h
  Who can tell me what that set of instructions does? I may not have remembered it quite correctly.

I'll leave you with an old programming joke.
There are 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary and those that don't. Think about it. This statement is completely true, you are making an incorrect assumption of what 10 stands for.
And a cartoon that hung on my wall for years.