Not all time wasting activities have the same results.
According to new research published in the PNAS journal this week, watching television is likely to be worse for long-term cognitive outcomes than other leisure activities. The correlation between watching the boob tube and the development of dementia is strong.
"Our findings suggest that the brain impacts of sitting during our leisure activities are really separate from how physically active we are," said UArizona researcher and study coauthor Gene Alexander in a statement.
More than 145,000 people over the age of 60 were examined using data from the UK Biobank. When the project began in 2006 no one was diagnosed with dementia, but over the course of a dozen years more than 3,500 people were diagnosed with dementia.
They found a correlation between watching TV and later dementia diagnoses. They found that people who used a computer were not as bad as people who sat down and watched TV.
It isn't the time spent sitting, per se, but the type of sedentary activity performed during leisure time that impacts dementia risk. The positive effects of sitting may be counteracted by the intellectual stimulation that occurs during computer use.
In other words, physical activity does seem to stave off cognitive decline, but what we do while we're getting older matters.
It's difficult to say why, but it's possible that using your brain in an active way keeps it healthy. It could give people valuable guidance on how to spend their time as they get older.
Raichlen said that physical activity doesn't fully mitigate the risk of dementia from too much sitting in the same way it does for other diseases. The design of public health interventions aimed at reducing the risk of neurodegenerative disease from sedentary activities is dependent on this knowledge.
Scientists fed rats sugary soda for two months and they got stupid.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
