Putting your feet up in retirement can raise risk of early dementia

WORKERS who are looking forward to enjoying a long and leisurely retirement after decades of toil may need to think again.

Research shows that brain function declines rapidly as soon as people stop work and put their feet up – and it appears the answer is not gentle stimulation like crosswords or sudoku.

A British study that tracked 3,400 retired civil servants found that shortterm memory declines nearly 40 per cent faster once employees become pensioners.

It appears that the lack of regular stimulation takes a heavy toll on cognitive function and speeds up memory loss and dementia, researchers warned.

Prof Cary Cooper, an expert in organisational psychology at Manchester Business School, said the study confirmed previous research suggesting that if people don’t use it, they lose it.

“It makes it more likely that dementia will set in earlier,” he said.

“We know that the more cognitively active you are the more it offsets the risk of dementia.

“I’m not talking about doing sudoku but doing something completely different from your job – so, if you worked in the civil service all your life, why not go and help out in a hospital or teach?

“The most important thing is to interact with people.” Even high-ranking civil servants with demanding jobs saw brain capacity plummet once they quit, the study found.

It suggests a busy and high-flying career offers no protection against cognitive decline unless pensioners keep physically and mentally active.

Around 850,000 people in Britain currently have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. With an ageing population, this figure is forecast to reach one million by 2025 and two million by 2050.

Experts say the best way to avoid the condition is to stay active, eat a healthy diet, stop smoking and drink in moderation. But the latest research suggests that giving up work could be a major catalyst for the incurable illness in some people.

Researchers from University College London and King’s College London studied 3,400 civil servants over a 30year period in the Whitehall II study, which they published online in the European Journal of Epidemiology.