25th June 2017
“Don’t Lose Your Brain at Work – The Role of Recurrent Novelty at Work in Cognitive and Brain Aging,” relates new findings about how work can affect brain aging. (February 6, 2017 issue of Frontiers in Psychology)
Co-authors include Jan Oltmanns as well as Columbia Aging Center director Ursula Staudinger.
Cognitive and brain aging is strongly influenced by everyday settings such as work demands. Long-term exposure to low job complexity, for instance, has detrimental effects on cognitive functioning and regional gray matter (GM) volume. Brain and cognition, however, are also characterized by plasticity. We postulate that the experience of novelty (at work) is one important trigger of plasticity. We investigated the cumulative effect of recurrent exposure to work-task changes (WTC) at low levels of job complexity on GM volume and cognitive functioning of middle-aged production workers across a time window of 17 years. In a case-control study, we found that amount of WTC was associated with better processing speed and working memory as well as with more GM volume in brain regions that have been associated with learning and that show pronounced age-related decline. Recurrent novelty at work may serve as an ‘in vivo’ intervention that helps counteracting debilitating long-term effects of low job complexity.
For the full publication, see: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00117/full
Posted by ILC-USA
Living a Fulfilling Life at 90: Interview with Keiko Higuchi, Japan’s Leading Social Commentator
Ms. Masako Osako, Executive Director of ILC Global Alliance Secretariat, recently sat down with Ms. Keiko Higuchi, President (rijicho) of a Japan-based NPO, Women's Association for the Better Aging Society (WABAS) and a leading social commentator and popular author in Japan. At 90 years old, Higuchi has recently published a new book titled, “Hold on! I am still alive and thriving at age 90,” which is a sequel to her enormously popular book published in 2019, “Ready, set, go! You are now becoming an “old-old person.”
15 March 2023
ILC-India organises Online Essay Competition to celebrate World Women’s Day 2023
To celebrate World Women’s Day on 8th March, ILC-I organized an online Essay competition exclusively for older adults where they expressed their thoughts on the topic titled “An inspiring lady who has influenced my life!”
February 2023
This report shows the real life of older adults in Japan. Their labour participation rate, financial assets, relationships with neighbours are described first, and then systems such as pension, medical and long-term care are being explained with numbers and figures.
December 2022
