Taxi Drivers Rarely Die of Alzheimer’s – How Complex Mental Maps and Spatial Reasoning Protect Your Brain
4 Articles
4 Articles
Taxi drivers and ambulance drivers are less likely to die of Alzheimer's. Thus, a study, published in 2024 in the scientific journal The BMJ, which analyzed the death certificates of nearly 9 million people in the United States. Among the massive group of people studied, they were engaged in 443 different occupations. However, only 1 in 100 taxi drivers or ambulances died from Alzheimer's, compared to 1 in 60 people in general. But what do drive…
Taxi Drivers Rarely Die of Alzheimer’s – How Complex Mental Maps and Spatial Reasoning Protect Your Brain
By Hatim Sharif, The University of Texas at San Antonio Taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely than workers in almost any other job to die of Alzheimer’s disease. That was the surprising result of a 2024 study examining the death certificates of nearly 9 million people in the U.S. These findings stopped me in my tracks because those two jobs rely on the same thing as my own work: maps. I have spent more than two decades staring at maps. Not…
Taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely than workers from almost any other profession to die of Alzheimer's disease. This was the surprising result of a 2024 study that examined the death certificates of nearly 9 million people in the United States. The discovery immediately caught my attention because these two professions depend on the same tool as my work: maps. I spent more than two decades looking at maps.
According to research from the University of Texas, occupational groups requiring real-time navigation have a lower incidence of dementia. This is because training to create cognitive maps in complex road situations stimulates the hippocampus and enhances cognitive reserve. Studies have suggested that cognitive training involving reducing reliance on digital devices and navigating new routes helps prevent dementia.
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