According to the results of three new studies, spending a lot of time watching TV in middle age can adversely affect the brain health of older people.
According to the survey, those who reported watching moderate to large amounts of television in their 40s, 50s, and early 60s had greater cognitive decline in their 70s and 80s than those who reported watching. The amount of gray matter in the brain was low. There are few middle-aged televisions. gray matter Researchers say they are involved in many brain functions such as muscle control, vision, hearing, and decision making. The higher the amount of gray matter, the better your cognitive ability.
A study presented this week at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention-Lifestyle and Cardiac Metabolism Health Conference 2021 used watching television as a substitute for sedentary behavior or sitting time. A sedentary lifestyle is already associated with some health problems. Heart disease,gun, Type 2 diabetes And early death. In addition, regular exercise is not always enough to make up for the time spent sitting. This is a finding found in both current and previous studies.
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“Our findings show that watching TV continues to be associated with cognitive function and the amount of gray matter, even after considering physical activity, and this sedentary behavior can pose a unique risk to brain and cognitive health. It suggests that there is sex. ”I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. Said in a statement..Given that the underlying biological processes of dementia, such as brain weakness, tend to begin in middle age, “it’s a period. [where] Correctable behaviors, such as excessive television viewing, can be targeted and reduced to accelerate and reduce healthy brain aging, “Dohati said.
Other studies suggest that watching television can pose certain risks as far as sedentary behavior is concerned. This is because it is a passive behavior that does not involve many cognitive stimuli.
“In the context of cognitive and brain health, not all sedentary behaviors are equal. Non-stimulating sedentary activities, such as watching television, are associated with an increased risk of developing cognitive impairment. Cognitively stimulates sedentary activity [such as reading, computer and board games] It is associated with cognitive maintenance and reduced likelihood of dementia. “
Do you have too many TVs?
Two of the new studies used data from the Atherosclerosis Risk Neurocognitive Study (ARIC-NCS) in the community, initiated in the mid-1980s when participants were 45-64 years old. .. At that time, they were asked how much TV they watched during their leisure time, “no or little” (low TV watching), “sometimes” (medium / medium TV watching) or “frequent / very frequent”. Recorded as “(frequently / very often). High TV watching). Researchers followed up participants in the 1990s, re-answered questions about TV viewing habits, and completed cognitive tests. In another assessment, between 2011 and 2013, we underwent a brain MRI scan to look for structural markers of brain health, such as the amount of gray matter.
In a study led by Priya Palta, an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at Columbia University, the ARIC-NCS study analyzed information from 10,700 adults. Researchers focused on the results of participants’ cognitive tests, including tests of memory, language, and brain processing speed.
They found that people who reported middle-aged to high-grade TV viewing in middle age had a 7% greater decline in cognitive function over 15 years than those who reported low-television viewing.
Another study, led by Kelly Petty Gabriel, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, analyzed information from approximately 1,600 ARIC-NCS participants and focused on the results of MRI scans. It was.
They showed that after more than 10 years, those who reported moderate to high TV viewing had less gray matter and had greater brain deterioration than those who reported less TV viewing. I found that.
“Our findings suggest that the amount of television viewing, a type of sedentary behavior, may be associated with cognitive decline and image markers of brain health.” Mr. Palta said. “Therefore, reducing sedentary behaviors such as watching TV can be an important lifestyle modification target to support optimal brain health.”
A third study, led by Dougherty, also initiated in the mid-1980s, used data from a study of coronary artery risk development in young adults in people in their thirties at the start of the study, and these participants Was tracked for 20 years. The researchers analyzed information from 600 participants. Participants were asked how many hours they watched TV each day and also had an MRI scan of their brain.
Twenty years later, they discovered that more television viewing was associated with lower gray matter volume. Researchers have calculated that the amount of gray matter decreases by 0.5% for every hour that a person spends an hour on average watching TV each day. This is similar to the amount of gray matter atrophy commonly seen during the middle to late adult years, Doherty said.
Future research
Studies have found an association between watching television and cognitive decline and decreased brain volume in later years, but it is not possible to prove that mass television viewing actually caused these results.Although the study explained several factors that could affect brain health — including age, education level, and the presence of specific genes associated with it. Alzheimer’s disease Risk — They did not ask about total sedentary time or make fun of watching TV from other types of sedentary behavior. The survey also relies on reports of participants’ TV viewing times, which can be unreliable.
In addition, these studies cannot identify why television viewing is associated with these results. It is unclear whether sedentary behavior is actually the cause of the link, or whether some other factors related to watching TV, such as increased food consumption, may play a role.
Researchers use objective measures of sedentary behavior (such as activity trackers) to examine the differences between passive and active sedentary behavior associated with cognitive decline and brain health markers. He said more research is needed to confirm the findings.
Originally published in Live Science.
