Taxi drivers rarely die of Alzheimer’s – how complex mental maps and spatial reasoning protect your brain

Working with and living in spatially complex environments may help delay cognitive decline, though more research is needed.

By: Hatim Sharif, The University of Texas at San Antonio, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: August 6, 2026

Words: 1,191

Last Updated: 1 week, 5 days ago

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By Hatim Sharif, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely than workers in almost any other job to die of Alzheimer’s disease. That was the surprising result of a 2024 study examining the death certificates of nearly 9 million people in the U.S.

These findings stopped me in my tracks because those two jobs rely on the same thing as my own work: maps.

I have spent more …

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