Many believe that representatives of intellectual professions — scientists, doctors, teachers — are best protected from dementia. However, the results of a new study turned out to be unexpected. Specialists from the United States analyzed nearly 9 million death certificates issued in various states of the country from 2020 to 2022. After accounting for age, gender, education level, and other factors, it was found that Alzheimer's disease was the cause of death for about one in 100 taxi and ambulance drivers. In comparison, among the 443 studied professions, the average rate was about one case in 60 people. The researchers emphasize that this does not mean that driving a vehicle itself reduces the risk of the disease. In their opinion, the protective effect is related to constant spatial navigation. Taxi drivers and ambulance drivers continuously determine their location, plot routes, adjust them based on traffic conditions, and essentially constantly update their internal "map" of the area. This is why a similar advantage was not found among bus drivers, who travel the same predetermined route every day. Scientists associate this effect with the hippocampus — a part of the brain responsible for memory and spatial orientation. The hippocampus is one of the first areas to suffer in Alzheimer's disease, and spatial orientation disturbances are considered one of the early symptoms of the disease. As early as the late 1990s, British neurobiologists studied the brains of licensed London taxi drivers. To gain the right to work in the capital of the United Kingdom, they must memorize over 25,000 streets and thousands of routes. The study showed that the back part of the hippocampus in such drivers was significantly larger than in representatives of other professions. Moreover, the longer a person worked as a taxi driver, the more pronounced these changes were. As noted by Professor Hatim Sharif from the University of Texas, these changes were not congenital — they formed through years of spatial navigation practice. The researchers also point out that active work with spatial information is characteristic of other professions. Among them: * Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialists; * Cartographers; * Urban planners; * Engineers. Representatives of these specialties work daily with digital maps, analyze spatial data, and simultaneously use various scales and coordinate systems. It is still unknown whether working with digital maps provides the same protection as constant navigation in a real urban environment. However, studies show that the hippocampus is involved not only in orientation in space but also in constructing complex spatial models. Besides the profession, the surrounding environment also matters. According to research, people living in areas with a dense network of streets, a large number of intersections, and diverse routes encounter dementia less frequently. Therefore, specialists recommend occasionally changing the usual route home or to work, navigating independently more often, and not relying solely on a navigator. Such simple exercises help maintain brain activity and train the areas responsible for memory and spatial thinking.
