Dementia: the risk increases by spending many hours in front of the TV

If someone does not want to become demented or at risk of Dementia he shouldn’t spend too many hours on TV. A recent American study states that whoever sedentary life for you TV spending too much time on it can seriously endanger dementia. It’s not the sedentary lifestyle itself that harms the brain, but it depends on what you do while sitting.

Researchers from several American universities have conducted a study. They compared the mental health status of 146,651 seniors when they were 64.5 years old on average and ten years later. At that time, 3,507 of them were diagnosed with dementia. They then completed questionnaires to learn more about their physical activity and the time they spent on the TV or PC.

The strength of this new research is that it shows a consistent link between sedentary lifestyle and mental health, but not just any sedentary lifestyle. In the questionnaires, the participants were asked how many hours a day they watch television or sit in front of a computer screen. What they noted is that the more time you spend in front of the television, the more likely you are to develop dementia after ten years of follow-up. The percentage of increased risk is up to 40%. But the same does not happen with computers: the chance of developing dementia in this case drops to 20%.

El Pais newspaper

THE factors leading to brain degeneration are passivity to action and television images. Neuroscientists at the German Center for Neurovegetative Diseases conducted thebrain imaging over 2500 people. The latter wore an accelerometer to record theirs fysical activity compare to sedentary life.

We see that physical activity reduces the risk of dementia, but does not completely neutralize the risks of watching television.

Davis Raichlen, of the University of Southern California, lead author of the study

According to the data, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias affect approximately 50 million people worldwide (5% of the world’s elderly). These figures may increase as a result of higher life expectancy and an aging population. In practice, it becomes urgent to determine whether one exists style of life healthy sedentary for the brain.