Are they watching Graying Anatomy?<\/p>\n
The idea of TV rotting your brain is apparently not just an old wives tale. Spending too much time watching TV in middle age may literally shrink the brain, increasing the risk of dementia and other complications, according to researchers at the University of Southern California.<\/a><\/p>\n This screen-induced cerebral shrinkage was detailed in a study in Alzheimer\u2019s and Dementia: Journal of the Alzheimer\u2019s Association<\/a><\/p>\n To determine how TV binges affect the middle-aged brain, the researchers analyzed data on 1,700 middle-aged adults who joined the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study \u2014 a long term US population survey of heart and brain health \u2014 between 1987 and 1989. <\/p>\n The TV-induced brain decline was more pronounced in men, per the study. Getty Images<\/p>\n The participants, who had an average age of 53, reported the amount of time they spent viewing television during their free time on a scale from \u201cnever\/seldom\u201d to \u201cvery often.\u201d They also had to report how much time they remained sedentary.<\/p>\n Fast forward two decades later and the subjects underwent MRI brain scans. The researchers found that participants who watched TV \u201cvery often\u201d had broad structural changes compared to those who \u201cnever\u201d or \u201cseldom\u201d viewed the tube.<\/p>\n Specifically, regular viewers showed a reduction in regions of the brain linked to early indicators of Alzheimer\u2019s. They also displayed a higher level of white matter hyper-intensity, a hallmark of a small blood vessel disease in the brain, which is associated with cognitive decline and dementia.\u00a0<\/p>\n The same group also had smaller occipital and frontal lobes, the parts of the brain responsible for visual processing and executive functions such as planning and decision-making.<\/p>\n \u201cFor years we\u2019ve focused on how much people sit,\u201d said senior study author David Raichlen, of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.\u00a0\u201cOur findings suggest we should also pay attention to what they\u2019re doing while they\u2019re sitting.\u201d Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n Coincidentally, this rift between TV devotees and infrequent watchers persisted even when the researchers factored in physical activity, body mass index, smoking, alcohol use, and other variables.<\/p>\n This seemed to suggest TV watching \u2014 and not sitting by itself \u2014 was the primary cause of the cerebral recession.<\/p>\n For instance, those who spent long stretches sitting at work lower amounts of white matter hyperintensity as well as larger occipital and frontal lobes, suggesting that they boasted superior brain health to their screen-addicted counterparts.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the California Morning Report newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalifornia’s top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n TV-watching was far more damaging than other sedentary activities such as working at a on office. Getty Images<\/p>\n The researchers attributed this discrepancy to the alleged intellectually stimulating aspects of sedentary gigs when compared to passive pursuits like watching TV.<\/p>\n \u201cFor years we\u2019ve focused on how much people sit,\u201d said senior study author David Raichlen, of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.\u00a0\u201cOur findings suggest we should also pay attention to what they\u2019re doing while they\u2019re sitting.\u201d<\/p>\n Interestingly, men appeared to display the greatest brain effects with regards to both sitting at work and binge-watching TV, according to the MRI scans.<\/p>\n Of course, the research did have a few caveats. For one, the participants\u2019 small screen habits were self-reported, which was far less reliable than monitoring their actual watch time.<\/p>\n As participants did not receive MRI scans at the start of the experiment, there was no way to record how their brain had changed over time.<\/p>\n While this topic needs to be probed more extensively, the results nonetheless show that physicians should shift their approach to health guidance concerning sedentary activities. <\/p>\n \u201cWe frequently encourage the public not to spend too much time sitting down, but experts may want to expand that recommendation to encompass the activities done while sitting, since those seem to have distinct impacts on brain health,\u201d declared study co-author Natan Feter, a postdoctoral scholar in the Human and Evolutionary Biology program at USC Dornsife.<\/p>\n Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/p>\n California Post News: Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, X<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, WhatsApp<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t
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