Study: Sitting in front of TV for long periods of time may increase risk of dementia
Heba Press/. Rabat
A new study has found that watching television for long hours a day can significantly increase the risk of dementia.
The study, which involved 400,000 people aged 37 to 73 in the UK, found that those who watched more than five hours of television a day had a 44 per cent increased risk of dementia, in addition to a 12 per cent increased risk of stroke. The risk of developing Parkinson’s disease increased by 28 per cent.
During the follow-up period, which lasted 13 years, 5,227 people developed dementia, 6,822 had a stroke and 2,308 people were diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
The research team from Tianjin Medical University in China found that watching TV for more than 5 hours a day was associated with decreased gray matter and smaller memory centers, both of which have been linked to brain diseases.
The researchers said the findings “suggest that watching television for long hours is associated with an increased risk of developing various brain-related disorders.”
One theory is that sedentary behavior, with low levels of muscle activity and energy expenditure, leads to chronic inflammation and decreased blood flow to the brain.
