Having an ’interesting’ job cuts your risk of dementia, study claims

研究：工作「有趣」能降低失智症風險

【摘要2021.10.4.一.自由】◎陳成良

Having an interesting job in your forties may slash your risk of getting dementia in old age, a study has suggested.

一項研究顯示，40多歲時從事有趣的工作，或可大大降低老年時罹患失智症的風險。

Researchers claim mental stimulation may stave off the onslaught of the memory-robbing condition by around 18 months.

研究人員指出，腦力鍛煉或可將失智症發作的時間推遲約18個月。

Academics examined more than 100,000 participants and tracked them for nearly two decades.

學者在近20年時間內對10萬多名參與者進行追蹤調查。

They spotted a third fewer cases of dementia among people who had engaging jobs which involved demanding tasks and more control — such as solicitors, doctors and chief executives, compared to adults in ’passive’ roles — such as cashiers.

他們發現，與收銀員等被動型職業相比，律師、醫生等要求高、自主性也更強的從業者，患失智症的比例少3分之1。

And those who found their own work interesting also had lower levels of proteins in their blood that have been linked with dementia.

另外，從事有趣工作的人，血液中與失智症相關的蛋白質含量也更低。

新聞辭典

dementia：醫學名詞，失智症。這一字源自拉丁語，de的字首為「遠離」，而 mens是「心智」的意思。全球華人社會對於dementia之譯法為「癡呆症」，台灣已將dementia正名為「失智症」之國家，取代過去「老年癡呆」的蔑稱。

stave off︰片語，擊退、防止、避開。例句︰All of us tried to stave off after-lunch drowsiness.（我們都設法驅除午飯後的睡意。）

onslaught：名詞，猛攻，襲擊。例句：The onslaught of the typhoon this time brought a staggering amount of rainfall.（這次颱風來襲，夾帶的雨水驚人。）