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Did your parents warn you that too much television could rot your brain? A new study confirms their wisdom.

University of Southern California researchers analyzed 1,712 adults in the long-running Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Participants were about 53 years old when they reported their television viewing and work-related sitting habits. More than 20 years later, researchers examined their brains with MRI scans.

Those who reported watching television “very often” in midlife had smaller brain volumes in areas involved in memory, decision-making, and visual processing. They also had more white-matter abnormalities associated with small-vessel disease, cognitive decline, and dementia. The associations persisted even after researchers accounted for physical activity and several other health factors.

Being a couch potato doesn’t seem to be the problem. Those who spent considerable time sitting at mentally engaging jobs actually showed healthier brain measures.

Now, before you pull an Elvis and shoot your screen, know that this study only demonstrates an association rather than proof positive that television viewing causes brain shrinkage. Study shortcomings? The amount of viewing was self-reported, and participants didn’t have brain scans at the beginning of the study.

So…….Consider replacing some of your passive TV time with reading, puzzles, conversation, or hobbies. Any mentally engaging activity seems to beat staring at the “boob tube” or, updated, the “scene screen.”

References on my website.

#BrainHealth #AlzheimersResearch #DementiaPrevention #SedentaryBehavior #TVWatching