How sitting too long raises dementia risk: 10 hours a day sedentary or more makes big difference, study finds – expert explains how to protect your brain

The longer you sit, the greater your dementia risk, study finds: rising from an 8 per cent increase sitting 10 hours a day, to a 321 per cent increase for 15 hours

Aerobic exercise, even if light, will increase growth factors in the brain that help preserve existing brain cells and may actually grow new ones, expert says

Reading Time:4 minutes

Men and women who spent more than 10 hours a day sitting elevated their risk of developing dementia significantly, a study finds. Even light aerobic exercise can help to protect your brain for the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:15pm, 4 Dec 2023

This is the 25th instalment in a series on dementia, including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers, and stories of hope.

How much time have you spent sitting still today?

Be honest. Did your fitness tracker, if you wear one, begin to buzz and agitate, a little green man dancing about on a tiny screen on your wrist urging you to move?

You’re not alone – lots of us don’t move enough any more.

It’s not difficult to clock up more than 10 hours a day sitting. Photo: Shutterstock

In 2019, the American Heart Association warned that sedentary jobs have increased 83 per cent since 1950.

Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, is the US state of Maryland, found that physically active jobs make up less than 20 per cent of the US workforce, down from about 50 per cent in the 1960s – much of it down first to a more mechanised world and then a virtual one, with too much time spent on devices.

SCMP Series

Decoding dementia

[ 25 of 48 ]