Washington, Apr 14 (TNS): Earlier research has linked sedentary behaviour to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and premature death in middle-age and older adults.
A new study links sitting too much each day with memory problems in middle-age and older adults. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found that long stretches of sedentary behavior like spending all day in your desk chair were linked to changes in a part of the adult brain that’s critical for memory.
Earlier research has linked sedentary behaviour to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and premature death in middle-age and older adults. The new study, published yesterday (April 12) in the journal PLOS One, builds on this, focusing on inactivity’s impacts on the brain, according to a statement from the researchers.
Specifically, the new study linked sedentary behavior to thinning of the medial temporal lobe, a brain region involved in the formation of new memories, the researchers said in the statement. Brain thinning can be a precursor to cognitive decline and dementia in middle-age and older adults, the researchers added. The study included 35 people between the ages of 45 and 75. Researchers asked the participants about their physical activity levels and the average number of hours per day they’d spent sitting over the previous week. Then, the researchers scanned the participants’ brains. Using a high-resolution MRI scan, the scientists got a detailed look at the medial temporal lobe of each participant and identified relationships among this region’s thickness, the participants’ physical activity levels and their sitting behavior, according to the study. The results showed that sitting for extended periods of time was closely associated with thinning in the medial temporal lobe, regardless of one’s physical activity level. In other words, the study suggests that “sedentary behavior is a significant predictor of thinning of the [medial temporal lobe] and that physical activity, even at high levels, is insufficient to offset the harmful effects of sitting for extended periods,” the researchers said in the statement. The participants reported that they spent from 3 to 7 hours, on average, sitting per day. With every hour of sitting each day, there was an observed decrease in brain thickness, according to the study.
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