ISLAMABAD: In a world dominated by screens and sedentary routines, a new study is sounding the alarm—not just for your posture or waistline, but for your brain. Even if you’re hitting the gym regularly, those long stretches spent glued to a chair might be quietly reshaping your mind.
Recent research reveals that sitting for prolonged periods every day can lead to the thinning of vital brain regions associated with memory and cognitive function. And here’s the catch: regular exercise doesn’t seem to fully erase the damage.
Study in brief
This study, conducted by Vanderbilt University’s Memory and Alzheimer’s Centre, USA, tracked 404 older adults over seven years. These participants, with an average age of 71, wore wrist monitors that captured their activity levels continuously. The findings? On average, they spent an astonishing 13 hours a day sitting, between commuting, meals, work, and downtime.
The results were eye-opening: those who spent more time sitting showed increased brain shrinkage in areas related to memory and learning, specifically the hippocampus, which is also one of the first regions to suffer in Alzheimer’s disease.
It’s not just about exercise anymore
Perhaps the most surprising takeaway from the study is that even individuals who met the CDC’s recommended guidelines for physical activity (150 minutes of moderate exercise per week) still experienced brain shrinkage if they spent long hours sitting. This challenges the commonly held belief that exercise alone can counteract the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
Dr David Raichlen, a co-author of the study, explained that it’s not only about how much you move, but how long you stay still—that’s the real game-changer.
Some are more vulnerable than others
The study also uncovered that individuals with the APOE-ε4 gene, which increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, were particularly susceptible to the effects of prolonged sitting. For these individuals, long hours of inactivity were linked to even faster brain shrinkage in regions like the frontal and parietal lobes—areas responsible for decision-making and sensory processing.
Why sitting hurts your brain
So why does sitting wreak such havoc on your brain? Prolonged periods of inactivity have already been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Now, it seems that too much sitting could also be damaging to brain health. Experts suspect that extended sitting may interfere with the blood vessels in the brain, disrupt neural connections, and increase inflammation, factors that can all accelerate cognitive decline.
What sets this study apart is its use of high-tech activity monitors that tracked movement 30 times per second, providing a far more accurate picture of sedentary behaviour than previous studies that relied on self-reporting.
What you can do
While these findings might sound unsettling, they’re also a wake-up call to incorporate more movement into your daily routine. The key isn’t just about hitting the gym—it’s about breaking up those long sitting sessions.
Whether it’s using a standing desk, taking short walks, or simply standing and stretching every hour, the goal is to get your body moving throughout the day.
