So much television per week could increase the risk of dementia

We’ve all been taught that too much TV makes our brains rot, but that idea might not be too far off. A new study found a link between dementia and sitting in front of the TV for too long. To make this news even worse, the number of hours you spend watching TV isn’t even that high before it starts affecting your brain health.

The study, conducted by researchers in England, found television to be a threat to dementia in older adults. According to researchers, just 24 hours of television a week can be enough to affect your brain. That’s only 3.4 hours of television a day.

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Most studies on the effects of television are typically conducted on children and young adults, with researchers citing this as the top concern. This recent study took a new approach and tried to understand the effect of television on people over 50.

Over 3,600 people with an average age of 67 years and without a diagnosis of dementia took part in the study. The results showed that participants who watched television more than 24.5 hours per week had an 8-10% decrease in their verbal memory. In comparison, participants who watched TV less than 24.5 hours per week experienced only a 4-5% decrease.

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“Research suggests that watching TV is a somewhat unusual activity for the brain because you have a lot of bright and fast-moving images so your brain is very alert, but at the same time it’s a fairly passive activity that you engage in need, and this has been shown to result in a less focused brain,” said Ph.D. Daisy Fancourt, one of the lead authors of the study.

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While examining the effects of television, the study likely suggests that older adults should supplement their television viewing with other activities, stay active, and engage their brains in other ways to eliminate some of its negative impact.