“Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco checked in with 3,247 people for 25 years, starting when they were young adults…People who got little exercise or watched at least three hours of TV a day did worse on tests measuring cognitive focus and speed than those who got more exercise or watched less TV, according to the study, published in JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday.
“Then people who had both low physical activity and high TV had even worse performance. It was an even bigger effect,” says Dr. Kristine Yaffe, a psychiatrist at UCSF and senior author on the study.
…Richards says it’s reasonable to think the gap in cognitive function between high-volume TV watchers and infrequent watchers might widen over the years.”
Study: Effect of Early Adult Patterns of Physical Activity and Television Viewing on Midlife Cognitive Function (JAMA Psychiatry). From the abstract:
- Importance: Sedentary behaviors and physical inactivity are not only increasing worldwide but also are critical risk factors for adverse health outcomes. Yet, few studies have examined the effects of sedentary behavior on cognition or the long-term role of either behavior in early to middle adulthood.
- Conclusions and Relevance: High television viewing and low physical activity in early adulthood were associated with worse midlife executive function and processing speed. This is one of the first studies to demonstrate that these risk behaviors may be critical targets for prevention of cognitive aging even before middle age.