Do desk jobs increase dementia risk?

Earlier, young adults had no reason to worry about dementia. But growing cases of dementiaamong the younger population have compelled us all to shift our focus to what we have been doing wrong with our cognitive health. As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), 55 million people are currently living with dementia. The WHO also says that every year nearly 10 million new cases are being reported.

Sitting more than 10 hours a day increases dementia risk

A new study on JAMA has made it clearer that a sedentary lifestyle, which is often seen during working hours, can trigger dementia. For the study, the researchers obtained data from the UK Biobank of 49,841 adults aged 60 years or older. “Among older adults, more time spent in sedentary behaviors was significantly associated with a higher incidence of all-cause dementia,” the researchers concluded from the study after analyzing the data from the wrist-worn accelerometer of the participants.

Even exercise won’t help

“Sitting in the office all day, then in front of the TV and in the car and all the other ways we find to sit, it adds up,” David Raichlen, a professor of biological sciences and anthropology at the University of Southern California, and the lead author of the study told the Mirror. “It looks like you can’t exercise your way out of the risk,” David added.

Do not ignore the early signs of dementia

While a sedentary lifestyle is a major risk factor, early diagnosis can help in managing the decline in cognitive health. One should be careful about the early signs of dementia like forgetting things or recent events, losing or misplacing things, getting lost even in familiar places, losing track of time, difficulties solving problems or making decisions, problems following conversations or trouble finding words, difficulties performing familiar tasks and misjudging distances to objects visually (these symptoms have been listed by the WHO).

Sedentary lifestyle is associated with several life-threatening diseases

Not just dementia, the lifestyle where an individual spends longer hours sitting on a desk and not moving at all, invites different types of diseases most of which are threats to life. A new study by The Lancet Public Health research shows that short bouts of activity can reduce heart attack and premature death risks. The researchers have drawn this conclusion after tracking more than 25,000 UK adults over roughly eight years.