More than six million people in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease, and researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) are discovering how lifestyle habits are linked to the likelihood of developing the disease.
According to one new study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Associationresearchers found that increased sedentary behavior in aging adults was associated with poorer cognition and brain atrophy in areas related to the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Marissa Gogniat, assistant professor of neurology at Pitt and former postdoctoral fellow at the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center at VUMC, led the study, co-authored by Angela Jefferson, professor of neurology at Vanderbilt and founding director of the center.
“Reducing your risk of Alzheimer’s disease isn’t just about exercising once a day,” Gogniat said. “Minimizing the amount of time you spend sitting, even if you exercise daily, reduces the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”
The team of researchers examined the relationship between sedentary behavior, or time spent sitting or lying down, and neurodegeneration among 404 adults aged 50 and older. Study participants wore a watch that measured their activity continuously over the course of a week. Their sedentary time was then compared with their cognitive performance and brain scans over a seven-year follow-up period.
Participants who spent more time being sedentary were more likely to experience cognitive decline and neurodegenerative changes, regardless of how much they exercised. These findings were stronger in participants who carried the APOE-e4 allele, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting that reducing sedentary time may be particularly important for older adults who have increased genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
“It is critical to study lifestyle choices and the impact they have on brain health as we age,” Jefferson said. “Our study showed that reducing sitting time could be a promising strategy to prevent neurodegeneration and subsequent cognitive decline, especially among aging adults at increased genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Taking breaks from sitting during the day and moving around to increase our active time is critical for our brain health.”
This study was supported by the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute on Aging.
