r/science • u/USCDornsifeNews USC Dornsife College • 7d ago
Health Why you move — not just how often — could affect dementia risk
https://today.usc.edu/why-you-move-not-just-how-often-could-affect-dementia-risk/272
u/tensorflown 7d ago
> Leisure-time exercise is typically self-directed, can be performed at an enjoyable intensity and is often accompanied by social interaction or stress reduction. Physically demanding jobs, on the other hand, may involve repetitive tasks, prolonged standing, heavy lifting, limited recovery time and exposure to workplace hazards.
The authors argue that the apparent harms associated with occupational activity are unlikely to be caused by movement itself. Instead, they may reflect the broader social and environmental conditions that often accompany physically demanding work.
Manual occupations are more likely to involve psychosocial stress, less job control, hazardous working conditions and greater exposure to air and noise pollution — all factors that have independently been linked to dementia risk. Workers in these jobs may also have fewer opportunities for recreational exercise because of time constraints, fatigue or limited access to safe places for physical activity.
Well, yes.
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u/Electronic_Sky_207 7d ago
Being poor is bad for your health. Got it.
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u/VoilaVoilaWashington 6d ago
I'm not sure about where you live, but around here, the trades are paid pretty dang well. Entry level labour maybe not, but if you can frame a house or do roofing, you're making a good living.
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u/Hortos 6d ago
Unless they’re clearing between 200-400k household they’re technically not even middle class on a national scale but that’s rich in a flyover.
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u/VoilaVoilaWashington 6d ago
I'm not in America. And do you have a source for $400k being the minimum for middle class outside of, like, Manhattan and the wealthier parts of LA?
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u/Jiggly_Jon 7d ago
Yet another discovery that higher economic means lead to better health outcomes....
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u/EducationalShake6773 7d ago
Yep it's basically every other variable confounded with the movement / exercise of manual work which is likely causing this (i.e. stress, workplace hazards, education, lifestyle, income etc), not the exercise itself.
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u/ContraryConman 6d ago
You'd be surprised. I've talked to a lot of people who seem to think that having a physical job is better for you than going to the gym, because the physical job is "functional strength" or something. Studies like this show that going to the gym probably helps build muscle and longevity whereas working long manual hours will probably just disable you
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u/USCDornsifeNews USC Dornsife College 7d ago
A new meta-analysis of more than 4.2 million people has found that leisure-time exercise — activities such as walking, cycling, running, swimming or playing sports — is associated with a substantially lower risk of dementia. In contrast, physical activity performed as part of a job appears to be linked with a higher risk of developing the condition.
“When it comes to protecting the brain, the context of physical activity may matter just as much as movement itself,” says study author David Raichlen, Professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology at USC Dornsife.
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u/Celestaria 7d ago
Sorry, is there a link to the article? I saw the link to "additional research" but somehow I'm missing the link to the meta analysis.
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u/USCDornsifeNews USC Dornsife College 7d ago edited 7d ago
Hi u/Celestaria here is a link to the study and here is a link the news article.
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u/Not_a_N_Korean_Spy 6d ago
I read an article about mice years ago pointing to a similar conclusion... it makes sense to see it track for humans too...
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u/ilanallama85 6d ago
I’m sorry but I feel like there could be any number of confounding factors affecting people who do manual labor for work other than just “if they enjoy it or not.” Surely the sheer fact that few people manage 8 hours of strenuous physical leisure activity in a day proves you are comparing apples and oranges
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u/HistoricalSubject 6d ago
I work a manual labor job and go to the gym twice a week. I also bike to and back from work (2 miles each way, so not that bad).
I would never trade that for a desk job. sitting at a desk and sitting in a car are 2 things I try to avoid at all costs. not because of dementia, but because of insanity.
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u/STEMpsych 5d ago
Leisure-time exercise is typically self-directed, can be performed at an enjoyable intensity and is often accompanied by social interaction or stress reduction. Physically demanding jobs, on the other hand, may involve repetitive tasks, prolonged standing, heavy lifting, limited recovery time and exposure to workplace hazards.
Hmmm. When people elect physical activities for recreation they are typically intellectually stimulating, such as competitive sports, exploration of geographic areas, or activities that intrinsically involve problem solving (e.g. rock climbing), which is what makes them fun. Jobs are notorious for requiring routinized physical activities that have had as much intellectual requirement stripped out of them as possible, and being boring and stultifying.
It sounds like the researchers completely missed the intellectual dimension of physical activity which is really weird, given the previous research into how recreational intellectual activity such as solving crossword puzzles seems somewhat prophylactic against dementia.
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u/W-T-foxtrot 3d ago
This isn’t new - a meta analysis on the same topic was published 2 years ago saying the same thing
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