New Study Reveals Shocking Link Between Sitting and Dementia Risk
If you want to lower your risk of getting Alzheimer’s or some other type of dementia, turn off the TV and step away from the internet. Get off your rear end and go do something. That’s not me talking. That’s science.
A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Arizona has found that sitting around for more than 10 hours a day may drastically raise your risk of developing dementia. The study focused on people aged 60 and older who had no signs of dementia at the start.
The findings, based on a massive study of nearly 50,000 individuals, revealed that seniors who were sedentary for 12 hours a day were 63% more likely to develop dementia within about seven years compared to those who sat for nine and a quarter hours or less. Furthermore, those who sat for 15 hours a day were a staggering 220% more likely to develop dementia during that relatively short period.
“There was a significant nonlinear association between time spent in sedentary behavior and incident dementia,” the researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Among older adults, more time spent in sedentary behaviors was significantly associated with higher incidence of all-cause dementia.”
While sitting around for less than the average time didn’t provide much additional benefit in this study, which was about nine and a quarter hours a day, the risks of developing dementia rose rapidly above that level, particularly above 10 hours a day.
Although the researchers acknowledge that more work needs to be done to establish causation, these findings align with multiple other studies that have found sitting for too long to be detrimental to our health, including our brain health, while engaging in more physical activity is beneficial.
Another study published in the British Medical Journal also highlighted the negative impact of excessive sitting on cognitive health. Additionally, a U.K. study from last year indicated that walking approximately 10,000 steps a day could decrease the risk of dementia by up to 50%.
The alarming prevalence of dementia cannot be ignored. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are currently 6.6 million people living with Alzheimer’s in the U.S., with no cure, limited treatment options, and no vaccine. Deaths from dementia are harrowing, causing immense agony for loved ones.
In comparison, the number of U.S. deaths attributed to COVID-19 totals 1.14 million. Yet dementia, a condition that already affects millions, is projected to worsen. Recent research from the Netherlands suggests that our lifetime risk of developing dementia may be as high as one in four. In the U.S., approximately a third of seniors experience dementia before they pass away.
Given the dire consequences of dementia, any measures to lower the risk should be embraced. Even if it means getting off the sofa, it could make a significant difference in preserving brain health and potentially avoiding this devastating condition.