Office workers' brain power declines! Survey: Average brain age is 60

Modern people often age faster due to overwork, high stress, and lack of knowledge of health care. The issue of "early aging" has become a hot topic. It not only occurs on the skin, but also causes brain power to decline prematurely! According to the "2012 Taiwan Office Workers Brain Age Survey", 52% of Taiwan's office workers work overtime for more than 9 hours a day. Through brain age test statistics, the subjects' average brain age was 60.5 years old, which is 26.9 years higher than the average actual age!

Survey: The average brain age of office workers is 60.5 years old, 26.9 years higher than their actual age! (Photography by Huang Manying)

This brain age test software was developed in collaboration with the American website my brain trainer, which conducted a brain age survey on 1,068 office workers across Taiwan. The survey found that approximately 97% of the respondents indicated that they were experiencing brain aging. In 2010, the average brain age was 20 years higher than the actual age. This year's survey showed that the average brain age was 26.9 years higher than the actual age. This shows that in less than two years, the average brain age of office workers has regressed by nearly 7 years. Judging from actual brain usage, 75.2% of office workers in Taiwan consider themselves to be intensive brain users, and the proportion of men (82%) is higher than that of women (70%).

In just less than two years, the average brain age of office workers has regressed by nearly 7 years. (Photography by Huang Manying)

The first signs of brain aging include decreased memory, concentration and learning ability. In addition to being reflected in concentration and memory, brain age is also positively correlated with work performance and salary. According to a survey, for office workers with an average monthly income of NT$20,000 to NT$70,000, their monthly income increases by NT$10,000 for every 2 years of decreased brain age. This also warns office workers with tight schedules and busy lives that in addition to taking care of their bodies, they also need to take care of their brain health in advance.

Dr. Xu Cifang, a nutritionist, said that if you have slowed thinking and memory loss, you need to be extra careful. To properly protect your brain, you need to follow the four principles of sleep, exercise, stress relief and nutrition. Although 97% of the public have signs of brain aging, less than 10% (9.7%) of office workers have fully adopted the above four brain protection actions! Today’s office workers face great pressure in life and work. Even if they understand the importance of sleep, exercise, and stress relief, they often find it difficult to implement them due to lack of time.

Another principle for brain health is "nutritional intake", which should be started early, and the correct concept of "brain food" should be established. Dr. Xu Cifang said that the concept of "brain food" has become one of the research focuses of European and American scientists in recent years. Currently, there are scientifically proven nutrients including: "Vitamins A, B, C, E", which can be obtained from vegetables and fruits, "polyunsaturated fatty acids", which can be obtained from nuts or deep-sea fish, and another is "small molecule double peptides", a more convenient source of intake is chicken essence. It is recommended that busy office workers pay attention to these brain-boosting nutrients in their daily diet as early as possible to boost their brain power, have clear thinking to improve work efficiency, improve brain age and increase workplace competitiveness.