A new study suggests that older adults aged 60 and above who spend prolonged periods engaging in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or sitting for extended periods while driving, may face an elevated risk of developing dementia.
This research provides critical insights into the relationship between a sedentary lifestyle and dementia risk.
Sedentary Behavior and Dementia Risk
The study, recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, indicates that the risk of dementia escalates significantly among individuals who spend more than 10 hours daily engaging in sedentary behaviors, such as sitting.
Remarkably, the average American already spends approximately 9.5 hours per day in sedentary activities, underscoring the importance of this discovery.
Total Sedentary Time Matters Most
Surprisingly, the manner in which sedentary behavior accumulates throughout the day appears to be less significant than the total amount of time spent sedentary.
The study highlights that the risk of dementia increases notably once a person surpasses 10 hours of daily sedentary behavior, regardless of how these sedentary periods are distributed.
This means that it is the overall duration of sedentary behavior that primarily drives the association with dementia risk.
Importantly, engaging in lower levels of sedentary behavior, up to approximately 10 hours per day, does not seem to raise the risk.
Implications for Office Workers and Sedentary Behavior Patterns
This discovery may offer reassurance to individuals with office jobs that necessitate extended periods of sitting. Common advice suggests taking short breaks every 30 minutes to stand or walk around.
However, the study indicates that once the total time spent sedentary is considered, the specific length of individual sedentary periods matters less.
The study utilized data from the UK Biobank, a vast biomedical database comprising participants from across the United Kingdom.
Over 100,000 adults participated in a sub-study, wearing accelerometers (wrist-worn devices for measuring movement) 24 hours a day for one week.
The researchers focused on a sample of approximately 50,000 adults aged 60 and over who did not have dementia at the study’s outset.
A machine learning algorithm was applied to analyze the accelerometer data, classifying behaviors based on various levels of physical activity intensity, such as distinguishing between sedentary behavior and sleep.
The objective measurements allowed researchers to quantify the time spent engaging in different types of sedentary behaviors.
After an average follow-up period of six years, the researchers identified dementia diagnoses using inpatient hospital records and death registry data, detecting 414 cases of dementia.
Statistical analyses were adjusted for various demographics, lifestyle characteristics, and health factors that could influence brain health.
Conclusion and Future Research
While this study contributes to understanding how sedentary behavior impacts dementia risk, further research is necessary to establish causality and explore whether increased physical activity can mitigate the risk of developing dementia.
This research reinforces the significance of reducing sedentary behavior in older adults to promote better brain health.
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The research findings can be found in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
