Complex jobs boost old age brain

Thursday November 20th, 2014

People who have to use "complex" thinking in their work may benefit from improved mental clarity in old age, according to Scottish researchers.

Researchers said holding down work involving this kind of thinking gave a small advantage in later life - worth just 2%.

The Edinburgh researchers tested more than a thousand people and then related this to their occupations and other factors such as academic achievement earlier in life.

They say that jobs which involve analysing data or instructing, mentoring or negotiating with people all involve complex thinking.

These include social workers, lawyers, architects and graphic designers.

Their findings have been reported in the journal Neurology.

Professor Ian Deary, director of the Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said: "It is interesting to see this new finding added to some other factors that seem to give a little boost to thinking skills in older age, such as not smoking, being physically fit and active, and knowing more than one language.

"It seems that having to exercise one's thought processes concerning data and people at work is helpful too."

Fellow researcher Dr Alan Gow, of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, said: "These results suggest that more stimulating work environments may help people retain their thinking skills, and that this might be observed years after they have retired.

"While it is true that people who have higher cognitive abilities are more likely to get more complex jobs there still seems to be a small advantage gained from those complex jobs for later thinking skills."

Neurology 20 November 2014

Tags: Brain & Neurology | Elderly Health | UK News

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