Latest news with #MarissaGogniat
Time of India
4 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Shocking! Prolonged sitting can shrink the brain, and even regular exercise won't compensate for it
Research indicates that prolonged sedentary behavior, even with regular exercise, elevates the risk of brain shrinkage and cognitive decline, particularly in older adults. The study, tracking participants over seven years, revealed a link between increased sitting time and neurodegenerative changes, irrespective of physical activity levels. S itting is the new smoking. Prolonged sitting isn't just bad for your heart; it could also shrink your brain. This effect cannot be compensated for, even if you work out regularly. Yes, that's right. A recent study found that sedentary behavior is linked with neurodegeneration and cognitive decline despite engaging in physical activity. A study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh found that increased sedentary behavior (time spent sitting or lying down) significantly increases the risk of brain shrinkage, related to risk for developing Alzheimer's disease, especially among older adults. The findings are published in Alzheimer's & Dementia : The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. Link between brain shrinkage and prolonged sitting It is known that prolonged sitting increases the risk of chronic diseases, musculoskeletal problems, and even premature death. But this new study has found that it could also lead to cognitive decline. The researchers found that despite regular physical activity, older adults who spend more time sedentary show greater signs of cognitive decline and brain atrophy over time. The study also suggests that sedentary behaviour may be an independent risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, a condition that already affects millions of people across the globe. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Wildlife Cameras Capture What No One Should See Ohi Blog Undo The study T he researchers looked at 404 adults aged 50 and older for over a seven-year period to undestand the effects of sedentary behavior on cognitive health. The participants were asked to wear activity-monitoring devices for one week to track how much time they spent sitting or lying down. Their sedentary time was then related to their cognitive performance and brain scans captured over a seven-year follow-up period. The researchers found that people who spent more time sedentary were more likely to experience cognitive decline and neurodegenerative changes, regardless of how much they exercised. This was prominent in participants who carried the APOE-e4 allele, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease . This stresses that reducing sedentary time may be especially important for older adults who are at increased genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease. 'Reducing your risk for Alzheimer's disease is not just about working out once a day. Minimizing the time spent sitting, even if you do exercise daily, reduces the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease,' lead author Marissa Gogniat, PhD, assistant professor of Neurology at Pitt and former postdoctoral fellow at the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer's Center, said in a statement. Sitting for prolonged hours at work: Beware of these side affects! "It is critical to study lifestyle choices and the impact they have on brain health as we age. Our study showed that reducing sitting time could be a promising strategy for preventing neurodegeneration and subsequent cognitive decline. This research highlights the importance of reducing sitting time, particularly among aging adults at increased genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease. It is critical to our brain health to take breaks from sitting throughout the day and move around to increase our active time,' co-author Angela Jefferson, PhD, professor of Neurology and founding director of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer's Center at VUMC, added.
Forbes
27-06-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Inactivity Is Bad For Your Brain Health
Exercise is good for one's health. However, a recent study has shown that spending too much time sitting down or lying down can be bad for one's brain health, even if one exercises regularly. Dr. Marissa Gogniat of the University of Pittsburgh and colleagues studied 400 people over a 7-year period, tracking levels of physical activity, sedentary time (such as sitting down), neurocognitive function, and brain volume loss measured with MRI scans. They found that, 'Greater sedentary behavior was associated with smaller hippocampal volume and worse cognitive performance over a 7-year period despite taking into account the level of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each person engaged in.' Although the exact mechanism for this loss of brain function is not completely understood, the researchers recommend that, 'healthcare professionals might consider assessing not only a patient's exercise regimen but also the amount of time they are sedentary throughout the day, recommending a reduction in such sedentary behavior in addition to increasing daily physical activity.' The hippocampus of the brain — a critical portion of the brain the helps with learning and memory. On the other hand, overwork can also alter one's brain. Researchers in South Korea studied brain structural changes in people who worked fewer than 52 hours per week vs. those who worked more. They found that, 'People who worked 52 or more hours a week displayed significant changes in brain regions associated with executive function and emotional regulation, unlike participants who worked standard hours.' In particular, 'the overworked group showed higher brain volume in the areas which regulate executive function: the left middle frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, bilateral superior frontal gyrus-dorsolateral, and insula.' How to interpret that data isn't exactly clear. The researchers suspect this reflects 'neuroadaptive responses to chronic occupational stress.' They also note that overwork is already known to lead to mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety. However, whether the brain changes are a cause of the mental health issues, an effect of them, or are independent manifestation of overwork is unclear. As an analogy, people who work in physically demanding but risky jobs such as coal mining might have both greater muscle mass as well as shortened life expectancy due to accidents. The increased muscle mass is neither a cause nor an effect of the decreased life expectancy, but rather independent manifestations of the chronic work environment. The Korean research team acknowledges this noting, 'While the results should be interpreted cautiously due to the exploratory nature of this pilot study, they represent a meaningful first step in understanding the relationship between overwork and brain health.' So how do these research studies apply to our everyday lives? Although both studies have limitations, they suggest that both too little activity and too much stressful work can affect our brains. The first study illustrates the importance of both regular exercise and reducing sedentary time. For example, a retiree might wish to avoid sitting for hours at a time watching television (or working in front of a computer), but rather break up that time with regular standing and walking breaks every 30-45 minutes. In addition to a daily workout, consider regular ongoing movements throughout the day. It is more difficult to draw definitive conclusions from the second study. The observed brain changes from overwork have not been linked to specific cognitive or emotional deficits. But workers can still strive to maintain an appropriate work-life balance, including limiting excessive work hours, and advocating for healthier workplaces. I am not surprised that physical inactivity and workplace stress can affect the brain. I am also excited to know that we now have ways of measuring some of these brain changes, and may soon be able to better understand how to optimize our levels of activity to best protect our brain health.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Sitting Could Be Shrinking Your Brain (And Exercise May Not Help)
Sitting might be a comfortable and convenient way to spend much of your day, but a new study of older adults suggests it can lead to brain shrinkage and cognitive issues, irrespective of how much exercise you're managing to fit in. The research counters the idea that periods of sitting can be balanced out by periods of being active, at least when it comes to brain health in people aged 50 or above. The study researchers, from Vanderbilt University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Seoul National University, think that too much sitting or lying down (known as sedentary behavior) can impact the brain and increase the risk of different types of dementia later in life, including Alzheimer's disease. "Reducing your risk for Alzheimer's disease is not just about working out once a day," says neurologist Marissa Gogniat, from the University of Pittsburgh. "Minimizing the time spent sitting, even if you do exercise daily, reduces the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease." The researchers recruited 404 volunteers, tracking their activity levels with wearables over the course of a week. Then, over the next seven years, cognitive tests and brain scans were used to assess their brain health. Even though 87 percent of the volunteers were meeting the recommended weekly guidelines of at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, those who sat more overall showed worse cognition. They also showed more signs of neurodegeneration – including a faster thinning of the hippocampus, a part of the brain crucial to memory function and one of the first areas to show damage from Alzheimer's. The association wasn't huge, and doesn't prove direct cause and effect, but it was noticeable: spending more time sitting seems to age the brain faster, and reducing that amount of time, rather than just exercising more, appears to be the best antidote. Stronger associations were found in those already at a higher genetic risk of Alzheimer's, the data shows. "This research highlights the importance of reducing sitting time, particularly among aging adults at increased genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease," says neurologist Angela Jefferson, from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "It is critical to our brain health to take breaks from sitting throughout the day and move around to increase our active time." Of course, these findings aren't a reason to give up more vigorous exercise. We know that being active does wonders for our physical and mental health, and even small amounts of exercise can keep the brain sharp. What's most important here is that extra hours sitting down were linked to certain kinds of wear and tear in the brain. This isn't the first time that sedentary behavior has been linked with dementia and Alzheimer's, but it's another important and comprehensive set of data that researchers and health professionals can draw on. "It is critical to study lifestyle choices and the impact they have on brain health as we age," says Jefferson. The research has been published in Alzheimer's & Dementia. Want to Live to 100? These Four Habits Might Help Get You There. Common Energy Drink Additive Could Be Fueling Growth in Leukemia Yellow Fever Resurgence Could Make COVID Look 'Pale' by Comparison
Medical News Today
19-05-2025
- Health
- Medical News Today
Alzheimer's: Minimizing time spent sitting may help lower risk
Written by Corrie Pelc on May 19, 2025 — Fact checked by Amanda Ward Sedentary time may negate the benefits of exercise, according to research. ThePast studies show that certain lifestyle factors, such as exercising regularly, may help lower a person's risk for Alzheimer's disease. A new study says that older adults who spend more time sedentary may be at a higher risk for lower cognition and brain shrinkage in areas linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease, no matter how much they exercised. The study adds to evidence that being sedentary is more detrimental to health than not exercising often enough. 'There are no current treatments that cure Alzheimer's disease,' Marissa A. Gogniat, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told Medical News Today. 'Therefore, modifiable health factors that may prevent Alzheimer's disease are of great interest and need.' Gogniat is the lead author of a new study, which says that older adults who spend more time sedentary — such as sitting or lying down — may be at a higher risk for lower cognition and brain shrinkage in areas linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease, no matter how much they exercised. Study participants were directed to wear an activity-monitoring watch — called a triaxial accelerometer — for 24 hours a day for one week, and were also given neuropsychological assessment and brain MRI scans over a seven-year period. 'We know a lot about the benefits over physical activity as a preventative measure for Alzheimer's disease and this was my main area of study for most of my career,' Gogniat said. 'I started looking at the 24-hour period of activity and noticed that people also spend a lot of time sitting. I was curious to better understand the independent contribution of sitting to risk for Alzheimer's disease,' she said. Upon analysis, researchers found that participants who spent more time being sedentary were at a higher risk for experiencing cognitive decline and neurodegenerative changes, such as lower hippocampal volume, regardless of how much they exercised. 'This is significant because the common thought has always been that if you exercise regularly, it doesn't really matter what else that you do,' Gogniat explained. 'This study showed that even after accounting for how physically active people were, sedentary behavior was still predicting cognitive decline and neurodegeneration.' Additionally, the scientists discovered that these findings were strongest in study participants who carried the APOE-e4 allele , which is a known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. 'We examined whether the association between sedentary behavior, brain health, and cognition was impacted by whether someone was an APOE4 carrier,' Gogniat detailed. 'Many of the observed associations linking greater sedentary time with brain health and cognitive outcomes were present in APOE4 carriers, but not in non-carriers, suggesting that increased sedentary [behavior] may be especially harmful for people at increased genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease.' — Marissa A. Gogniat, PhD MNT spoke with Constance Katsafanas, DO, neurologist at the Marcus Neuroscience Institute and program director of the Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine's Neurology Residency Program, about this study. Katsafanas commented that while the study's sample size was small, the results suggest that it's not just activity, but minimizing time spent sitting, that could affect cognition as we age. 'Other studies have looked at similar things before. There are studies about people who are more sedentary having smaller cortical thickness and worse episodic memory, for instance,' she continued. 'But this one looked in a slightly different direction as well, specifically seeing if these effects persisted in the face of the patients having the weekly physical activity recommended by the CDC — 87% of the patients in this study accomplished the amount and intensity of weekly physical activity recommended by the CDC — so it adds a new angle to the conversation.' — Constance Katsafanas, DO 'I'd like to see if the results are reproducible, that is, if other studies find similar results,' Katsafanas added. 'I'd also like to see studies that track activity vs. time spent sedentary for the duration of the study. This study recorded the level of activity over a week, and the patients were then followed over seven years. I'd like to see the level of activity tracked for the duration of the study.' For readers who want to learn how to move more and become less sedentary during the day, MNT asked Sanjula Dhillon Singh, MD, PhD, MSc (Oxon), instructor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and principal Investigator of the Brain Care Labs, for her top tips. 'The good news? If sitting too long is a risk factor, it's one we can do something about. Standing up, moving more, and breaking up long stretches of sitting might be some of the easiest ways to protect your brain as you age.' — Dhillon Singh, MD, PhD, MSc (Oxon) Singh said readers don't need a fancy gym membership to make a difference and offered these simple steps to help lower their daily sedentary time: Set a timer to stand up and stretch every 30-60 minutes if you are sitting. Take calls while walking or pace around the house during conversations. Make it social — invite a friend or loved one for a walk or join a virtual movement class. 'Doctors often ask patients how active they are — but rarely how many hours a day they spend sitting,' Singh said. 'This study suggests maybe doctors should be asking both of these questions! Even if you're hitting your step goals or going to the gym, spending too much of the day sitting may still be quietly harming your brain.' 'There's actually so much we can do to take good care (of) our brains and lower our risks of developing dementia — especially since about 45% of dementia cases may be preventable by addressing modifiable risk factors. And this research suggests that it is not just about exercising more — it's also about sitting less,' she added.
