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Using your brain at work keeps it working into old age. The old adage “use it or lose it” has long been known to apply to muscles, but it seems like it might also apply to your brain, too. “In a large group study of 70-year-old Scots, people who worked intellectually demanding jobs–which required flexibility, focus, problem-solving and lots of interaction with others–were smarter and had better memories than those whose jobs were less cognitively demanding. That finding held up even after researchers accounted for early differences in intelligence, education and childhood circumstances.” The benefits applied not only to intelligence, but the speed at which a person’s brain worked as well. The individuals were followed over time since childhood. “The new research suggests that when a child with modest cognitive abilities grows up and is drawn into complex work, he or she is more likely to become an older adult with better-than-usual mental function. To the extent that bright children are funneled into menial occupations, they’re also likely to lose some of the mental horsepower they start out with.”
