{"id":809371,"date":"2026-08-10T21:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T21:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809371\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T21:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T21:50:16","slug":"this-1-common-behavior-in-midlife-may-shrink-your-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809371\/","title":{"rendered":"This 1 Common Behavior In Midlife May Shrink Your Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve reached midlife and love a good Netflix binge \u2015 we\u2019re talking enough to trigger the \u201cAre you still watching?\u201d prompt \u2015 we\u2019ve got some unfortunate news for you: According to a new study<\/a>\u00a0from researchers at the University of Southern California, watching TV often in midlife is linked to some worrisome brain changes later in life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The study<\/a>, published in Alzheimer\u2019s & Dementia: Journal of the Alzheimer\u2019s Association, found that adults who reported watching television \u201cvery often\u201d during midlife later had smaller memory-related brain regions. These adults also showed reduced volume in the frontal and occipital lobes and more damage to the brain\u2019s white matter \u2015 changes associated with aging, increased stroke risk, cognitive decline and dementia.<\/p>\n

Health: A Study Revealed Doing This Highly Enjoyable Activity Every Day Could Lower Your Dementia Risk<\/a><\/p>\n

Previous research on sedentary behavior and its impact on brain health has largely focused on how long people sit, said Natan Feter, a postdoctoral research associate in the department of biological sciences at USC and one of the study\u2019s authors. For instance, a 2023 Harvard study<\/a> found that spending 10 or more hours a day physically inactive was linked to a higher risk of developing dementia later in life.<\/p>\n

But Feter and his team wanted to dig deeper. Instead of looking only at the number of hours people spent sitting, they wanted to know whether what people were doing while they sat made a difference for brain health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we found is that what you do while sitting \u2015 not just how long you sit \u2015 seems to predict your brain volume 20 years in the future,\u201d Feter told HuffPost.\u00a0\u201cSpending more time watching television was associated with smaller brain volumes in regions especially vulnerable to Alzheimer\u2019s disease and with greater signs of damage to the brain\u2018s small blood vessels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWhat<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you do while sitting \u2014 not just how long you sit \u2014 seems to predict your brain volume 20 years in the future,\u201d said Natan Feter, a postdoctoral research associate at the department of biological sciences at USC.Creative Images Lab via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Like this article? Keep independent journalism alive. Support HuffPost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To conduct the study, researchers analyzed data from about 1,700 adults in the long-running U.S. Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, who were about 53 years old on average when they enrolled between 1987 and 1989. Participants reported how often they watched TV during their free time and how much of their workday they spent sitting.<\/p>\n

More than 20 years later, participants underwent brain MRI scans. Compared with those who said they \u201cnever\u201d or \u201cseldom\u201d watched TV, people who reported watching it \u201cvery often\u201d showed widespread structural differences throughout the brain.<\/p>\n

Life: ‘Mentally Active Sedentary Behaviors’ Could Reduce Your Risk Of Dementia. Here’s What That Means.<\/a><\/p>\n

The group that watched TV most often also had smaller frontal and occipital lobes. The frontal lobes are involved in skills like planning, decision-making and other executive functions, while the occipital lobes help the brain process visual information. These differences held up even after researchers accounted for other factors that can affect brain health, including physical activity, diabetes, body mass index, smoking and alcohol use.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther common sedentary activities showed the opposite pattern, suggesting that what we do while sitting may matter even more than how long we sit,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

What is it about TV consumption that\u2019s so detrimental to our brain health compared to say, knitting or playing Wordle?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Feter said their study can\u2019t determine the exact reasons, but there are several plausible explanations. For one, television viewing is typically a highly passive activity that requires relatively little cognitive engagement.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cOther<\/p>\n

\u201cOther common sedentary activities showed the opposite pattern, suggesting that what we do while sitting may matter even more than how long we sit,\u201d Feter said.Grace Cary via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also more likely to occur in prolonged, uninterrupted sitting bouts and is often accompanied by unhealthy behaviors, such as snacking or reduced social interaction,\u201d he said. \u201cIn contrast, activities like reading, computer use, or hobbies often involve greater mental stimulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

One important limitation is that this was an observational study, so the researchers can\u2019t can\u2019t conclude that television viewing directly causes these brain changes. Sitting time was also self-reported, too, Feter said, which could introduce some measurement error. (We get it; not everyone wants to cop to how many hours of their lives they\u2019ve lost to \u201cLove Is Blind\u201d episodes.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think future studies \u2015 using wearable devices, repeated brain imaging and intervention designs \u2015 will help clarify whether reducing television viewing or replacing it with more cognitively engaging activities can help preserve brain health over time,\u201d Feter said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related…<\/p>\n

Read the original on HuffPost<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve reached midlife and love a good Netflix binge \u2015 we\u2019re talking enough to trigger the \u201cAre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-809371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}