Decrease Your Risk of Dementia: Avoid This Type of Activity While Sitting



According to a recent study by researchers from the Universities of Southern California and Arizona, dementia may be more likely to develop in people aged 60 and over who spend a lot of time watching TV or engaging in other passive, sedentary activities.

Additionally, their research showed that the risk is decreased for individuals who perform sitting activities like reading or using a computer.

In the most current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study was published. It also showed that the link between inactivity and the risk of dementia persisted even among people who exercised regularly.

The type of sedentary activity engaged in during free time, rather than the amount of time spent sitting, affects the risk of developing dementia, according to study author David Raichlen, professor of biological sciences and anthropology at the University of Southern California Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences.

When compared to using a computer or reading, watching TV involves less muscle activity and energy consumption, the researcher noted. And while studies have shown that prolonged, uninterrupted sitting is associated with decreased brain blood flow, the relatively higher level of intellectual stimulation experienced while using a computer may mitigate the detrimental consequences of sitting.

Researchers used self-reported data from the U.K. Biobank, a sizable biological database with more than 500,000 individuals throughout the United Kingdom, to examine potential connections between dementia in older adults and sedentary leisure activities.

More than 145,000 adults aged 60 and over without dementia completed touchscreen questionnaires to self-report information on their levels of sedentary behavior over the 2006–2010 baseline assessment period.

In order to discover dementia diagnoses after an average of almost 12 years of follow-up, the researchers examined hospital inpatient data. 3,507 confirmed cases were found.

The researchers then adjusted their findings for a variety of demographic (such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, and kind of job) and lifestyle (such as exercise, smoking and alcohol usage, quantity of sleep, and social interaction) variables that might have an effect on brain health.

The effects of mental and physical activity on risk

Even after the researchers took into account levels of physical activity, the results remained unchanged. Even in people who are very physically active, watching TV while relaxing was linked to a higher risk of dementia, while using a computer while relaxing was linked to a lower risk of dementia.

According to study author Gene Alexander, professor of psychology and director of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Arizona, "even though we know that physical activity is good for our brain health, many of us think that if we just increase our physical activity during the day, we can counter the negative effects of time spent sitting."

Being more mentally active, such as when using computers, may be a key way to help counter the increased risk of dementia related to more passive sedentary behaviors, like watching TV, according to Alexander's findings, which "suggest that the brain impacts of sitting during our leisure activities are really separate from how physically active we are."

Understanding how sedentary behavior affects human health may result in some benefits.

Raichlen continued, "What we do while we're seated matters. When creating focused public health interventions aiming at lowering the risk of neurodegenerative disease from sedentary behaviors through positive behavior modification, this understanding is essential.

The Arizona Department of Health Services, the McKnight Brain Research Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the state of Arizona all provided funding for the study.

By UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

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