Improving your navigation skills could protect against dementia. A recent study in the British Medical Journal suggests taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely to die from Alzheimer’s disease. This is potentially a significant finding since dementia has been the leading cause of death in Britain for the past decade.
Researchers from Harvard University analysed millions of Americans across 400 occupations and found that taxi and ambulance drivers had the lowest Alzheimer’s mortality rates. Interestingly, bus drivers, who follow set routes, don’t have the same protection suggesting that being good at navigation is the key.
Our findings raise the possibility that frequent navigational and spatial processing tasks … might be associated with some protection against Alzheimer’s disease,” the study authors wrote.
The hippocampus, a region of the brain crucial for navigation and spatial memory, is the first area to shrink and deteriorate in Alzheimer’s patients. A University College London (UCL) study on London cabbies found that training for ‘The Knowledge’ – a rigorous navigation test – caused their hippocampus to grow larger, like a muscle strengthening through exercise.
“There’s evidence that spatial orientation and navigation are among the first things to decline,” says Hugo Spiers, a cognitive neuroscience professor and leader of the Taxi Brains project at UCL. “[Their decline] may even predate the loss of memory.” Increasing the size of the hippocampus through frequent navigation may protect you against Alzheimer’s.
Whilst the study found that fewer taxi and ambulance drivers died from Alzheimer’s, they also had shorter lifespans. Alzheimer’s risk increases with age. Not living long enough to get Alzheimer’s could partly explain the results. However, even after adjusting for age, researchers still found a significant protective effect.
How to help yourself and strengthen your brain
Try going on walks and exploring new environments without relying on GPS. This will not only improve your navigation skills but also incorporates physical activity and spending time in nature; both of which are linked to healthy aging.
Go with friends for even more benefits; strong social connections also help combat Alzheimer’s.
