Our body is designed for continuous movement, but many people end up their day sitting for longer periods of time. Sitting in front of your computer or television for long hours may lead to tight hips, back pain, and other problems.
Scientists revealed in a study that sitting for too long can increase the risk of heart conditions, obesity and diabetes. Sedentary habits are not only bad for your physical health but also for your brain.
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) were curious to investigate that how inactive lifestyle can affect our brain, especially the regions that are critical to the formation of new memory. They analyzed the relation between sedentary lifestyle, physical activity, and the thickness of medial temporal lobe (MLT), which is involved in new memory formations. The study recruited 35 volunteers aged between 45 to 75 and they were asked about their levels of physical activity and the time they spend sitting over all days of the previous week. Each volunteer went through MRI scan, which gave a detailed image of MLT.
The researchers discovered that sedentary lifestyle is an important indicator of thinning of MLT and strenuous physical workout is not sufficient to stop the adverse impact of sitting for long period of time.
Thinning of MLT is a sign of dementia and cognitive decline. According to researchers, reducing sedentary lifestyle is intended to improve the health of the brain in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers said that the study doesn’t demonstrate that too much sitting results in thinner brain structures, but more hours spent sitting are related to thinner regions. In addition, the main focus of researchers was on the hours spent sitting, but they did not ask volunteers if they had breaks during this time.
Now, you might be thinking that giving up sitting behavior and doing more exercise would prevent the brain thinning problem. But it is not true. The UCLA researchers revealed that high level of physical activity is not sufficient when it is aimed at preventing the effects of sitting for extended periods of times.
If tight hips were not a good enough reason to involve in more physical activities throughout the day, hopefully this is. So, keep moving all around throughout the day to maintain better brain health.