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| The study suggests people who want to protect their brains against the ravages of ageing should minimise their time on the road.
They say that regular driving for more than two hours is bad for your
heart, but did you know that it can also make you less smart?
This conclusion came after a five-year study of 500,000 Britons with
ages ranging from 37-73. Of the 500,000 test subjects in the study, there were
around 93,000 individuals who drove two to three hours each day.
According to researchers, those in this group experienced a steady
decrease in brainpower over a period of five years. The decrease is more
pronounced compared to those who did little or no driving at all.
Krishan Bakrania, a medical epidemiologist at the University of
Leicester, thinks the reason may be that the mind is not active during those
hours that people are driving.
Apart from that, mental cognition can be affected by external factors
such as stress.
“Driving causes stress and fatigue, with studies showing the links
between them and cognitive decline,” Bakrania said.
But some may ask: doesn’t it contradict some studies that say driving
particularly operating a car is a complex activity that helps you exercise your
brain?
A study that was published in Nature stated it this way:
“Driving is a complex everyday activity that
requires multiple types of sensory processing, cost-weighted decision making,
precise motor control, and other abilities. Even on an empty road, drivers
must continuously operate the steering wheel and pedals in consideration of
complicated vehicle dynamics. Driving is also a vigilance task, which is often
undertaken for prolonged periods of time, and carries a constant risk of injury
or death resulting from collisions…”
So then, if driving creates the same neural pathways that happen when a
person is developing a skill (like learning to play the piano or solving a
complex jigsaw puzzle), it should mean that the brain should be improving
in cognition not worsening.
According to the Leicester research, that’s only true if they’re
consistently doing it. What this means is that the mental boost stops once
drivers don’t steadily improve their driving skills something many middle-aged
people often fall into.
Another factor to consider is the natural process of aging.
According to Bakrania, cognitive decline is measurable over five years
because it can happen fast in middle-aged and older people. “This is associated
with lifestyle factors such as smoking and bad diet and now with time spent
driving,” Mr Bakrania told the paper.
So how can drivers lessen these negative effects? According to
researchers, using computers daily can boost their cognitive stills, and can
lessen driving’s negative effects on the brain.
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