1 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Today, 2 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 1: I want to talk about your job and is it 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: contributing to or reducing your risk of dementia. So I'm 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,480 Speaker 1: going to pull a couple of different lines of research 5 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: into this, and the first was a study published in JAMA, 6 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: the Journal of the American Medical Association that looked at 7 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:36,840 Speaker 1: about fifty thousand people in the uk Biobank study. So 8 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: if you've listened to this podcast, you know that this 9 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: is the Biobank. Uk Biobank Study is a gift that 10 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: keeps on giving. There are a huge amount of people 11 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,880 Speaker 1: who are constantly pokest and broaded and asked about their lifestyle, 12 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: and then we follow them up and see who gets 13 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: chronic disease or dies early and see who doesn't, and 14 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: they're able to make some imprinces about these So this 15 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: study is showed. This was looking at the amount of 16 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,479 Speaker 1: time that you spend sitting and your risk of dementia. 17 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 1: So those who sat for about ten hours a day 18 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 1: had an eight percent increased risk of dementia. For those 19 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: who sat for nine hours or less, those who sat 20 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:22,119 Speaker 1: for twelve hours a day had a whopping sixty three 21 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,680 Speaker 1: percent increased risk of dementia versus those who's had for 22 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:27,959 Speaker 1: nine hours or less and those who's had for a 23 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 1: whopping fifteen hours, which there's a lot of sitting, they 24 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: had a two hundred and twenty one percent increased risk 25 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: of dementia versus those who sat for nine hours or less. Now, 26 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people, whenever I talk about sitting, they 27 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: completely underestimate the amount of time that they sit. What 28 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: we know is that if you have an office job 29 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: or a pretty sedentary job, if you're in work for 30 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: eight hours, the typical individual will sit for six and 31 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: a half of that. Right now, Before that, you've got 32 00:01:57,040 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: to think about what you do in the morning when 33 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: you get up and whether you sit down for breakfast. 34 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: Then you got to think about your commute and how 35 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:09,239 Speaker 1: long you spend sitting. And then the work doesn't include 36 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: the lunchtime, so you got to think about that time. 37 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: Then you got to think about if you commute home 38 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: as well. You add that sitting in. So we've got 39 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: those things plus the six and a half hours if 40 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: you're in a sedentary job, and then we come home 41 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: and we've had a hard day, so we relax, and 42 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: it is very easy to accumulate those twelve plus rs 43 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: a day. And what they also find that exercise doesn't 44 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: undo all of the effects. So, and I've talked about 45 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:46,800 Speaker 1: this before, being sedentary is a completely independent risk factor 46 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: from sitting. So what I mean by that is that 47 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 1: you can sit a lot and exercise and you still 48 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: have one risk factor for chronic disease. But if you 49 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: sit a lot and you don't exercise, you don't have 50 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: two who different risk factors for chronic disease, and they 51 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: become additive to some extent. So it's thinking about all 52 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: of the stuff that you're doing. And we know that 53 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: breaking up the periods of prolonged sitting is really really key. 54 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: And I'm going to get to that at the end 55 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: because another bit of research I want to talk about 56 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: was showing that jobs were your reasonably active physically, they 57 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: actually reduced a risk of dementia. But a study in 58 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: the landsets showed that the most physically demanding jobs actually 59 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: increased the risk of dementia. And these guys had a 60 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: bar roughly fifty to sixty percent increased risk of dementia 61 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: for people who were moderately physically active in their jobs. 62 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: Now there was a bit of nuance under it, because 63 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: these jobs often had a lack of autonomy, They had 64 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: prolonged standing and the work was hard. There was rigid workers, 65 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: and there was a lot of stress and risk of 66 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: burnout and sometimes inconvenient working days. So it's not just 67 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: about being physically active. It's a physically active, stressful, rigid 68 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: job that seems to carry those extra risks. Now, another 69 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: line of research actually looks about the cognitive stimulation in 70 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: your job, and this was a study of seven thousand 71 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: Norwegians who had three hundred and five different occupations across them, 72 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: and what they found was that the jobs that were 73 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: the least mentally challenging, that had a lot of routine, 74 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: unchallenging work, actually were sixty six percent more likely to 75 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: have mild cognitive impowerment when they became older adults and 76 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: thirty one percent more likely to have dementia after the 77 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: years of seventy compared to those who had mentally sorry 78 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: taxing jobs. So there is a bit of a balance 79 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: to be played here. You don't want to be doing 80 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: a job that is boring as batshit and has lots 81 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: of routine, but you want to have a job that 82 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:15,279 Speaker 1: is actually mentally taxing, but not really rigorously physically taxing 83 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:19,599 Speaker 1: as well. So probably the best job is one that 84 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 1: is quite mentally taxing, where you have to think about stuff, 85 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 1: and you know that's pretty obvious how that is going 86 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:30,599 Speaker 1: to keep your brain young and healthy. But ideally you 87 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: should be having the opportunity to move a reasonable amount. 88 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: And then the worst job is one that you're sitting 89 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:44,840 Speaker 1: all day long doing very routine tasks, or you're doing 90 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 1: stuff that is really stressful and highly physically stressful and 91 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: a lack of autonomy and all of those things. So 92 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 1: ways things that we can do. We know that actually 93 00:05:56,279 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: breaking up our sitting is really really key. And I 94 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: mentioned this a little bit earlier on. I've actually just 95 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: taken delivery of a little Pomodoro clock, which is pretty 96 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: cool because I'm a massive fan of that technique. And 97 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: that's basically where you're in control of your diary. You 98 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 1: work in thirty minute chunks, and then you get up 99 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 1: and you move for five minutes and take a little break, 100 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: get up and move, do some breathing, drink some water. 101 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,359 Speaker 1: That is like taking your brain out and plugging it 102 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: into a wall, but getting up every thirty minutes and moving, 103 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: either doing a little bit of vigorous activity, running up 104 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:33,719 Speaker 1: and down a couple of flights of stirs, or walking 105 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: for a few minutes. That actual movement off sets a 106 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:42,599 Speaker 1: lot of the changes in gene expression that are associated 107 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: with prolonged sitting, so that the worst thing that you 108 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,360 Speaker 1: can do is sit for long periods of time. So 109 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: ideally use the Pomodoro technique, have those regular breaks, standing meetings, 110 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 1: walking meetings. They're great ideas. And another rule that I 111 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: have is never ever sit when you're on the phone, 112 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: So when the phone rings, you have to stand up 113 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: or walk around to answer that phone, because there is 114 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: huge value in just breaking up that sitting because the 115 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: inactivity physiology we know is pretty damn horrible. So that's 116 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: it for this week, folks, catch you next time.