Permanent sitting makes you stupid

Study: Sitting for hours may harm the brain

09/20/2014

The fact that physical activity also improves mental performance has already been shown in studies in the past. However, American researchers have now found in an investigation that hours of sitting can nullify this advantage and harm the brain's performance.

Physical activity promotes mental performance
Older studies have shown that physical activity can promote mental performance and protect against old age. However, the benefits that a person gains through sport can also be nullified by regular hours of sitting. This report US researchers in the journal „PLOS ONE“. For the investigation, the University of Illinois team at Urbana-Champaign equipped 88 people aged 60 to 78 years with motion sensors that carried them most of the day. All subjects were healthy, but not particularly athletic. In addition, the scientists examined areas of the white matter, a part of the central nervous system, which consists mainly of nerve fibers.

Study measures physical activity and examines brain structure
First author Agnieszka Burzynska explained: „To our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind that objectively measures physical activity and, at the same time, investigates the brain structure in various ways.“ Far less reliable is it, if, as in similar investigations, participants would often only be questioned about their behavior. The brains of the volunteers were examined by two different methods: First, the age-related lesions in the white matter that occur in almost every human being in old age - but in varying amounts. And on the other hand, the researchers observed how water spreads in the brain, which suggests the general state of the white matter. They used the so-called diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance tomography.

White brain matter degenerates above average
The researchers came to the conclusion that the brains of people who regularly exercised moderate to very sweaty generally had fewer white matter lesions. Those, on the other hand, who frequently moved slightly, had an above-average level of white matter in the temporal lobes. This plays a key role in processing information, memory and speech. And in those who "often sat for a long time, the white matter in regions around the hippocampus was degenerated above average." As the US team writes, the studied region around the hippocampus is responsible for learning and also remembering. The researchers took into account the age, gender and general fitness of the subjects in the evaluation.

Avoid too comfortable a lifestyle
„This suggests that the physiological effect of sitting too long - even if you are exercising for half an hour at the end of the day - has a deleterious effect on the brain“, so Burzynska. In old age, both exercise and avoiding too comfortable a lifestyle are important to the brain. However, scientists can not completely rule out that conversely even a worse brain substance could generally lead people to sit around longer, for example because of problems with balance. This should now be clarified by another study.

Sports for seniors
Cycling, Nordic walking, (mountain) hiking, swimming and cross-country skiing are some of the sports that are considered suitable for seniors. Basically, it is important that the training on the physical condition is appropriate. Jogging, for example, is considered controversial by many experts due to the high stress on joints for older people. By regular physical activities one does not only good for his mental capacity, as the current study shows, but his health well-being in general. Sport thus helps to reduce the risk of overweight and obesity or to prevent numerous illnesses. Long sitting, on the other hand, not only leads - as described - to a possible reduction in brain performance, but often also to complaints such as back pain, fat legs, shoulder stabbing or neck pain. Reason enough to get out of the chair. (Ad)