Assessment
3 Ways Couch Time May Be Bad for Your Brain
Long hours spent sitting may affect your thinking, mood and more
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Whether we’re hunched over our laptops or on the couch watching TV, Americans do a lot of sitting. According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), U.S. adults sit for an average of 5.9 hours every day.
And based on a survey of 2,640 adults ages 20 to 75, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in 2021, that number may be even higher: Participants reported being sedentary for a whopping 9.5 hours per day, on average. Much of it was screen time: People ages 50 to 69 reported sitting four hours per day in front of a TV or computer screen, and that number rose to five hours per day among people ages 70 to 74.
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“In my view, the inactivity associated with the couch is a major culprit in poor health,” says Charles E. Matthews, co-author of the survey and a senior researcher with a focus on physical activity and health at the National Cancer Institute. Being sedentary has been linked to a host of health problems, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and dementia.
Here’s a closer look at the problems with too much couch time.
1. Too little movement can put you at risk of cognitive decline.
Being sedentary was found to be significantly associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline in people ages 60 and older in a systematic review and meta-analysis of 19 studies, which included 81,791 total participants and was published in Frontiers in Neuroscience in 2023.
Fortunately, some studies suggest that taking short movement breaks can help counteract the effects of inactivity. For instance, in a 10-week pilot study of 25 adults, who had a mean age of 87 and were residing in an assisted living facility, participants saw significant improvements in their cognitive function, physical function and quality of life after receiving prompts on their watches to get up and do 10 minutes of light activity, such as walking, three times a day. Those results were published in 2020 in the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity and are a good inspiration to sneak in a few squats during the commercial breaks of your favorite TV show.
2. Couch time can contribute to heart disease.
People who were inactive and spent more than 10 hours per day sitting had the highest risk of mortality, including death from cardiovascular disease, compared with those who were physically active and didn't sit much, according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2024. The study analyzed more than 10 years of data from 8,337 adults ages 65 and older.
Good news: You can help protect your heart by sitting less and moving more, research suggests. People who tried to reduce their time spent sitting by about 30 minutes a day had lower blood pressure after six months, as noted in a study of 283 adults with a mean age of 69, published in JAMA Network Open in 2024. In a separate study of 660 people with a mean age of 69, every 10 minutes of physical activity was associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and a 6.5 percent lower risk of death, as reported in BMC Geriatrics in 2022.
3. Sitting too much can affect your mood.
Consider this one more reason to do a mood-boosting mini-workout or take a stress-relieving stroll outside: Being sedentary for more than 10 hours per day was significantly associated with symptoms of depression in a study that analyzed data from 4,728 participants with a mean age of 51, published in 2024 in Scientific Reports.
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