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

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

A recent study conducted by Harvard Medical School has caused a stir: taxi drivers and ambulance drivers have a significantly lower risk of dying from Alzheimer's disease than the general population. The epidemiological investigation analyzed death records for nearly nine million people in the United States and found that only 1.03 percent of taxi drivers and 0.91 percent of ambulance drivers died from this devastating disease, while the average rate in the general population is 1.69 percent. These results are based on an analysis that included data from 443 different occupations and took into account major sociodemographic factors such as age and gender Focus.de reported.

A possible reason for these pleasing results could be the constant need for spatial orientation. Taxi drivers always have to find new routes and memorize complex city landscapes, which puts greater strain on spatial memory and therefore on the hippocampus region of the brain. A previous study showed that this brain region was more active in taxi drivers, which could potentially have a protective effect against Alzheimer's. The hippocampus is crucial for navigation and spatial memory - skills that are commonplace in taxi or emergency services. Krone.at highlights that these cognitive demands may suggest that occupational mental challenges could play a preventative role against Alzheimer's disease.

Interesting results and insight into cognitive activities

Research shows that in recent years Alzheimer's mortality among these drivers is significantly lower than in jobs that require less navigation, such as bus drivers or pilots. These people, who mostly follow fixed routes, experience a higher mortality from Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that this lower cognitive demand means that their hippocampal activity is not sufficiently stimulated. Future research could clarify whether the association between driving and Alzheimer's risk involves more than just correlation; However, it remains to be noted that the data obtained indicate a significant influence from the respective professions.