Learning and development in the workplace could be a boon for wellness, new research suggests. Doing cognitively demanding work can delay the onset of brain decline and even dementia at an older age, according to the study published April 17 in the journal Neurology.
On the other hand, having a job with routine tasks and limited mental stimulation during ages 30-65 was linked to a 37% greater risk of dementia after age 70, the study authors found.
“This study supports the ‘cognitive reserve hypothesis,’ which basically states that the more you use your brain during early and mid-life, the better equipped you are to ward off dementia and cognitive decline later in life,” senior author Bjørn Heine Strand, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, said in a statement.
