A Role for Sitting in Brain Health?

[Papiya]

Sitting may not always be bad for the brain and, in fact, may benefit cognition, new research suggests. Although physical activity in seniors is beneficial for overall health, the new study suggests that being sedentary may benefit certain cognitive capacities, as long people are also sufficiently physically active. Investigators found that daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with better fluid abilities, including perceptual speed and reasoning, while more sedentary time was associated with better performance on tests of vocabulary knowledge as well as reasoning.

[Bidhan]

@papiya Fluid abilities such as processing speed and memory, problem solving, and reasoning tend to decline as people age. On the other hand, "crystallized" abilities — particularly vocabulary — tend to improve, possibly because people acquire more knowledge and experience as they move through adulthood.