Taxi drivers and rescue workers: protection against Alzheimer's through navigation?

Taxi drivers and rescue workers: protection against Alzheimer's through navigation?

A current study carried out by the Harvard Medical School has caused a sensation: taxi drivers and ambulance drivers have a significantly lower risk of dying from Alzheimer's than the general population. The epidemiological examination analyzed death certificates of almost nine million people in the United States and showed that only 1.03 percent of taxi drivers and 0.91 percent of emergency drivers died of this devastating disease, while the average value in the total population is 1.69 percent. These results are based on an analysis that included data from 443 different professions and large socio -demographic factors such as age and gender, as FOCUS.de reported.

A possible reason for these gratifying results could be the constant need for spatial orientation. Taxi drivers have to find new routes at any time and remember complex urban landscapes, which claims the spatial memory and thus the Hippocampus region of the brain more. A previous study already showed that this brain region was more active among taxi drivers, which could potentially have a protective effect against Alzheimer's. The hippocampus is crucial for navigation and spatial memory performance- skills that are the order of the day in the taxi or emergency services. krone.at emphasizes that these cognitive requirements could indicate that job -related mental challenges could play a preventive role against Alzheimer's.

interesting results and information about cognitive activities

Investigations show that Alzheimer's mortality among these drivers has been significantly lower in recent years than in professions that require less navigation, such as bus drivers or pilots. These people, who mostly follow solid routes, record a higher mortality of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that this lower cognitive requirement does not adequately promote their hippocampus activity. Future research could clarify whether the connection between the driving profession and Alzheimer's risk comprises more than just correlation; However, it should be noted that the data obtained indicates a significant influence by the respective professions.