Too Much TV And Chill Could Reduce Brain Power Over Time

NPR:

When I kick back to watch a show, I tell myself I’m just going to watch one episode. But 45 minutes later, I’m watching another. And then another. For the rest of the day. There are a lot of things that TV and chilling can lead to, but among the less fun? Maybe more cognitive decline over time.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco checked in with 3,247 people for 25 years, starting when they were young adults. Every five years, they asked participants to estimate how much TV they watched daily. Every two to five years, the researchers looked at how much physical exercise people got. At the end of the 25 years, when the participants were in their 40s and 50s, they all took three tests that measured their memory, focus, and mental and physical quickness.

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“Some TV shows can be cognitively stimulating, and there’s some evidence that cognitively stimulating activities can be protective and beneficial,” says Margie Lachman, a psychologist at Brandeis University who was not involved in the study. Perhaps some content is better for your brain than others.

Read the whole story: NPR