Image collage with two images, image 1 shows a woman wearing glasses lying on a couch with popcorn and a remote control, looking bored while watching TV, image 2 shows an elderly man touching his head in frustration while pointing at a calendar on the wall, possibly indicating memory loss or cognitive impairment
Couch potatoes, rejoice. Hanging out might not be such a bad thing, at least for your brain.
It’s known that exercise can help lower your risk of dementia, but new research suggests that even small changes in the amount of time you spend sitting can make a difference.
This is welcome news for Americans, who spend an average of 9.5 hours a day glued to their seats, whether at work or relaxing at home.
Spending too much time sitting without thinking may increase your risk of developing dementia, new research suggests. Stockete – Stock.adobe.com
“Sedentary behavior is common, but fortunately it can also be changed,” said Mats Hallgren, lead author of the study and senior researcher at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, in a press release.
“Our research shows that not all sitting styles are the same. How you use your brain while sitting may be an important factor in your future cognitive and mental health,” he added.
To find out more about how our sedentary habits affect cognition, Hallgren and his colleagues followed 20,811 Swedes between the ages of 35 and 64 over nearly 20 years.
First, participants filled out detailed questionnaires about their daily habits, including how much time they spent on passive activities such as watching TV and listening to music, and how much time they spent on mentally active activities such as office work, knitting, playing cards and other brain-intensive tasks.
They reported, on average, 116.3 minutes per day of passive sitting and 239.9 minutes of mentally active sitting per day.
Nineteen years later, researchers looked at Sweden’s national health records to see who developed dementia. Dementia is a syndrome characterized by a gradual decline in memory, thinking, and communication abilities that interfere with daily life.
Common symptoms of dementia include memory loss, confusion, personality changes, and difficulty with daily activities. Lightfield Studio – Stock.adobe.com
During that time, 569 participants received the diagnosis, and the results suggested that how they spent their time sitting may be playing a role.
Researchers found that for every additional hour of mentally active sitting per day, the risk of dementia decreased by 4%. Even better, replacing one hour of passive sitting with one hour of mentally active sitting reduces your risk of dementia by 7%.
“We found that long periods of mentally passive, sedentary behavior increase the risk of dementia,” Hallgren explained. “Replacing passive sitting with mentally active activities reduced risk.”
Interestingly, the benefits of sitting mentally active were stronger for participants aged 50 to 64 than for those in their late 30s to 40s, suggesting that older adults may benefit from more brain protection by keeping their minds busy while taking physical breaks.
Researchers suspect that something called cognitive reserve may be at play.
Cognitive reserve acts like a mental safety net, helping the brain improvise and find new ways to get things done, keeping it sharp even when aging, illness, and injury take their toll.
The study authors suggest that doing mentally active work in midlife builds up this reserve, and its protective effects may not emerge until later in life.
Imaging studies support this, showing real changes in both brain structure and function in adults who stay mentally active through work, social activities, and other intellectual activities.
The researchers also theorized that how older adults spend their time sedentary – engaging in cognitively stimulating leisure activities such as reading, writing and puzzles – may further activate their brains, while younger adults, who are often sedentary at work, may not only receive more mental stimulation, but may also experience higher levels of stress.
“Even sitting still uses minimal energy, but it can be differentiated by the level of brain activity,” says Hallgren.
“How we use our brains while sitting appears to be an important factor in determining future cognitive function and, as we have shown, may predict the onset of dementia.”
The study found that doing mentally stimulating activities like knitting while sitting may help prevent dementia. Puhimek – Stock.adobe.com
However, this study had limitations.
As an example, participants reported their habits in 1997, long before smartphones, social media, and endless streaming were popular. Their daily lives likely also changed during the 19 years of follow-up, but this is not captured in the data.
Still, Hallgren said the findings are noteworthy, especially in today’s sedentary world. Across the United States, only one in four adults and one in five adolescents meet physical activity guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities. That means most people spend too much time in chairs.
“Our study adds to the observation that not all sedentary behaviors are equal; some may increase the risk of dementia, while others may be protective,” Hallgren said.
“As we age, it’s important to stay physically active, but it’s also important to stay mentally active, especially when we’re sedentary.”
After all, if you can prevent dementia with a few tweaks to your sitting habits, it might be worth replacing some couch time with brain-boosting activities.
Nationwide, about 1 in 10 older adults has dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common form.
That number is expected to rapidly increase as the U.S. population ages. Researchers estimate that 42% of Americans over age 55 will eventually develop dementia, with women and black adults facing higher risk.
It is predicted that by 2060, the number of infected people nationwide will double, with approximately 1 million new cases being diagnosed each year.
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