Exercise Your Brain

Low Mental Demands of Custodial Work can be a Cause of Alzheimer’s

By Dave Arnold

Certain jobs carry certain health risks. Education Support Professionals (ESP) like secretaries and bus drivers, for example, are susceptible to carpal tunnel syndrome. The stress they put on their wrists, elbows, arms and shoulders is associated with their jobs.

Cafeteria cooks are susceptible to knife cuts and burns, while warehouse personnel may suffer from back pain. Custodians, paraeducators and cooks are likely victims of arthritis and other joint-related ailments due to the long hours they spend on their feet.

Most ESP I know are aware of job-related physical threats, though seldom do they discuss mental health hazards.

Mental Stimulation Helps

As a custodian in an elementary school, I often joke about how the kids sometimes drive me crazy. I’ve told them in a humorous way that because of their antics I may spend my retirement years in a mental hospital.

I stopped saying that after reading  “Janitors More Likely to Develop Alzheimer’s,” an article that appeared in the September issue of Cleaning and Maintenance Management magazine. After I read it, I started thinking about my future mental health.

The article says that a study in the Journal of Neurology claims that “people who developed Alzheimer’s disease tended to hold jobs with lower mental demands during their 30s, 40s, and 50s – including janitorial work – than did people not afflicted with the disease.” The study actually singled out custodians.

Job Demands

Custodians think hard about the chemicals they mix, power tools they operate and complex machinery they repair. I always thought our brains were getting a good workout.

Maybe not. The study sounds reliable. It was used by the Department of Labor to help the government determine mental and physical job demands. Historically, it is the first report on mental job demands over the course of several decades, according to the article. It is also one of the first to link physical work and low mental demands to Alzheimer’s disease.

By definition, Alzheimer’s is a progressive, degenerative disorder that affects the brain. Most victims are older than 65, but the disease can strike some in their 40s or 50s. It damages brain cells responsible for memory, intelligence, judgment, and speech. No cure is known and it is irreversible. This was sobering news for someone who has worked as an ESP for almost 25 years. The following statistics were even more enlightening:

• The average course of the disease from the time it is diagnosed to death is about 6 to 8 years.
• Approximately 4 million people in the U.S. suffer from Alzheimer’s.
• Alzheimer’s affects 5 percent of people over age 65, and 20 percent over 80.

I searched for studies that might indicate whether those ESP in para education, clerical and technical services were less likely to meet this grim disease than those in skilled trades, food and security services. One article I came across dealt less with ESP jobs and more with the lifestyles we might follow. 

Off the Couch

Dr. Barry Bittman wrote an article, “Mental Gymnastics: Couch Potatoes and Alzheimer’s,” in which he quotes Dr. Robert Friedland and others from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. They recently report a 2.5 times increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease “in the couch potato set.”

According to Bittman’s article, Friedland’s team analyzed leisure time activities performed during early and middle aged adulthood (ages 20-60).  These include three categoreis:

• passive activities: watching television, talking on the phone, listening to music
•  intellectual activities: reading, jigsaw or crossword puzzles, playing musical instruments, chess or other board games, knitting or woodworking
• physical activities: baseball, football, or other sports such as bike riding, swimming, walking or skating

Friedland concludes that Alzheimer’s patients “were less active in all these activities except for television watching.” I guess some people need to do their power thinking along with power walking. 

In Theory

I believe that the majority of ESP keep their minds active. There are many talented ESP who are artists, writers, musicians. The type of work we perform at school also keeps our brains humming in different ways. In addtion to our job duties and Association work, there are hundreds of students, teachers, and administrators to deal with.

I like my job. But I might hedge my bet and do a crossword puzzle every once in awhile.

More  Dave's columns.

(Dave Arnold, a member of the Illinois Education Association, is head custodian at Brownstown Elementary School in Southern Illinois. He can be contacted at dparnold@csuol.com.)

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NEA or its affiliates.