For a study recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers set out to explore the relationship between sedentary activities and dementia. Namely, they looked at both TV watching and computer use and their correlation to the onset of all-cause dementia.
The bad news? Increased TV watching was related to increased rates of dementia. But interestingly enough, increased computer use was actually observed to decrease dementia rates. This relationship was observed regardless of physical activity level.
It’s important to note that this research was done on UK biobank participants, with the authors pointing out the group studied lacked diversity in terms of race and ethnicity. They also note that the study relied on self-reported behaviors, which can always lead to imperfect data.
There is no evidence to suggest watching TV in moderation is related to dementia risk. But while the study found compelling data on the overall trends of TV watchers, it does not propose a magic number of TV episodes that should be safe for cognitive health.
