Physical stress on the job linked with brain and memory decline in older
age

Date:
July 22, 2020
Source:
Colorado State University
Summary:
A new study has found that physical stress in one's job may be
associated with faster brain aging and poorer memory.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new study out of Colorado State University has found that physical
stress in one's job may be associated with faster brain aging and
poorer memory.


==========================================================================
Aga Burzynska, an assistant professor in the Department of Human
Development and Family Studies, and her research team connected
occupational survey responses with brain-imaging data from 99 cognitively normal older adults, age 60 to 79. They found that those who reported
high levels of physical stress in their most recent job had smaller
volumes in the hippocampus and performed poorer on memory tasks. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that is critical for memory and is affected in both normal aging and in dementia.

Their findings were published this summer in Frontiers in Human
Neuroscience under the research topic "Work and Brain Health Across
the Lifespan." "We know that stress can accelerate physical aging and
is the risk factor for many chronic illnesses," Burzynska said. "But
this is the first evidence that occupational stress can accelerate brain
and cognitive aging." She added that it is important to understand how occupational exposures affect the aging of our brains.

"An average American worker spends more than eight hours at work per
weekday, and most people remain in the workforce for over 40 years,"
Burzynska said. "By pure volume, occupational exposures outweigh the
time we spend on leisure social, cognitive and physical activities,
which protect our aging minds and brains." PHYSICAL DEMANDS AT WORK


========================================================================== Burzynska explained that the association between "physical stress" and
brain/ memory were driven by physical demands at work. These included
excessive reaching, or lifting boxes onto shelves, not necessarily
aerobic activity. This is important because earlier work by Burzynska
and her colleagues showed that leisure aerobic exercise is beneficial for
brain health and cognition, from children to very old adults. Therefore,
the researchers controlled for the effects of leisure physical activity
and exercise.

As expected, leisure physical activity was associated with greater
hippocampal volume, but the negative association with physical demands
at work persisted.

"This finding suggests that physical demands at work may have parallel
yet opposing associations with brain health," Burzynska explained. "Most interventions for postponing cognitive decline focus on leisure, not on
your job. It's kind of unknown territory, but maybe future research can
help us make some tweaks to our work environment for long-term cognitive health." She added that the results could have important implications
for society.

"Caring for people with cognitive impairment is so costly, on economic, emotional and societal levels," Burzynska said. "If we can support brain
health earlier, in middle-aged workers, it could have an enormous impact."
The researchers considered and corrected for several other factors that
could be related to work environment, memory and hippocampus, such as age, gender, brain size, educational level, job title, years in the occupation
and general psychological stress.



==========================================================================
ONE PIECE OF THE PUZZLE "The research on this topic is so fragmented," Burzynska said. "One previous study linked mid-life managerial
experience with greater hippocampus volume in older age. Another showed
that taxi drivers had larger hippocampi than a city's bus drivers,
presumably due to the need to navigate. In our study, job complexity
and psychological stress at work were not related to hippocampal volume
and cognition. Clearly, our study is just one piece of the puzzle,
and further research is needed." The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
data used for the study was collected at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign between 2011 and 2014.

CSU researchers now can collect MRI data with the new 3T scanner at the University's Translational Medicine Institute.

With this new capability, Burzynska, along with Michael Thomas and Lorann Stallones of CSU's Department of Psychology, is launching a new project, "Impact of Occupational Exposures and Hazards on Brain and Cognitive
Health Among Aging Agricultural Workers," which will involve collecting
MRI brain scans and identifying risk and protective factors that could
help the agricultural community age successfully. The project recently
obtained funding as an Emerging Issues Short-Term Project from the High
Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety.

The Department of Human Development and Family Studies is part of CSU's
College of Health and Human Sciences.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Colorado_State_University. Original
written by Jeff Dodge. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Agnieszka Z. Burzynska, Daniel C. Ganster, Jason Fanning,
Elizabeth A.

Salerno, Neha P. Gothe, Michelle W. Voss, Edward McAuley, Arthur F.

Kramer. Occupational Physical Stress Is Negatively Associated With
Hippocampal Volume and Memory in Older Adults. Frontiers in Human
Neuroscience, 2020; 14 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00266 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200722093448.htm

--- up 1 week, 1 hour, 55 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)