In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, a duo of researchers at University College London, UK, analyzed data from 3,662 adults aged 50 and over and found that watching television for more than 3.5 hours per day was associated with a decline in memory of words and language over the following six years.
Fancourt & Steptoe aimed to explore whether television viewing behaviors in adults aged 50 or over are associated with a decline in cognition. Image credit: Pavlofox.
“Whilst watching television may also have benefits such as educational benefits from watching documentaries and relaxation benefits as a way of reducing stress, overall our study suggests that adults over the age of 50 should try and ensure television viewing is balanced with other contrasting activities,” said lead author Dr. Daisy Fancourt, from the Research Department of Behavioural Science and Health at University College London.
Dr. Fancourt and her colleague, Professor Andrew Steptoe, analyzed data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA), a nationally-representative English longitudinal panel study of adults aged 50+.
Participants were asked in 2008–2009 and in 2014–2015 about how much television they watched on a daily basis and on each occasion they also took part in a number of verbal memory and fluency tests.
They were free from dementia at baseline and had an average age of 67.1 years (range 52 to 90+). A total of 43.7% were male, 72.3% were married or cohabiting and 98.5% were white.
The scientists found that adults who watched television for more than 3.5 hours a day experienced on average an 8% to 10% decrease in verbal memory, while those who watched less than 3.5 hours of television per day experienced on average a decrease in verbal memory of around 4% to 5% over the same period.
The team also suggested that watching television could reduce the amount of time that people spend on activities that could contribute to cognitive preservation, such as reading.
Additionally, interactive screen-based activities, such as video gaming and using the Internet, can have cognitive benefits such as improved problem-solving skills, but the alert-but-passive nature of television watching may create cognitive stress which could contribute to memory decline.
“Our findings have led to several other research questions,” Dr. Fancourt said.
“For example, do different types of television content have different effects on cognitive decline? Given the associations with cognitive decline shown here, is television viewing specifically a risk factor for the onset of dementia?”
“It is of interest that, although television viewing remains high in care homes where residents have less autonomy or control over their own viewing, the desire to watch television naturally declines amongst people with dementia as soon as symptoms of the disease become evident, suggesting that it becomes less rewarding as cognition gets worse.”
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Daisy Fancourt & Andrew Steptoe. 2019. Television viewing and cognitive decline in older age: findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Scientific Reports 9, article number: 2851; doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-39354-4
