The more hours you sit per day, the smaller your medial temporal lobe (MTL) seems to become, brain scans show

—– In the study, both (A) Total medial temporal lobe (MTL) and (B) parahippocampal thickness correlated inversely with hours of sitting/day, controlling for age. Reference: Siddarth P et al (2018), Sedentary behavior associated with reduced medial temporal lobe thickness in middle-aged and older adults. PLOS ONE 13(4): e0195549. Sitting is bad for your brain — not just your metabolism or heart (UCLA release): “UCLA researchers recruited 35 people ages 45 to 75 and asked about their physical activity levels and the average number of hours per day they spent sitting over the previous week. Each person had a high-resolution MRI scan, which provides a detailed look at the medial temporal lobe, or MTL, a brain region involved in the formation of new memories. The researchers found that sedentary behavior is a significant predictor of thinning of the MTL and that physical activity, even at high levels, is insufficient to offset the harmful effects of sitting for extended periods…The researchers next hope to follow a group of people for a longer duration to determine if sitting causes the thinning and what role gender, race, and weight might play in brain health related to sitting. MTL thinning can be a precursor to cognitive decline and dementia in middle-aged and older adults. Reducing sedentary behavior may be a possible target for interventions designed to improve brain health in people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, researchers said.” The Study: Sedentary behavi...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Health & Wellness aerobic fitness aging brain brain-scan cognitive-decline dementia medial temporal lobe memory Physical-activity sedentary behavior sitting Source Type: blogs