When it comes to health issues, not all forms of being sedentary are equal:
Standing desks—and even biking desks—are a response to a growing body of studies showing that a sedentary lifestyle creates many health risks. Regular physical activity appears to confer a degree of protection from various problems, both physical and mental, and many results indicate that this doesn't have to be Olympic-level training. Simply walking around the apartment a few times a day appears to help.
Now, a team of researchers has looked at the opposite question: Are all forms of inactivity equal? The answer is probably not. While the details depend on the health issues involved, there's likely to be some good news for people reading this, in that computer use appears to be somewhat protective against dementia.
[...] Before we get into the results, a small reminder: The work focused on the influence of sedentary behavior on mental issues. Physical health issues weren't examined—it's possible for something that looks relatively good in this analysis to be an overall negative once physical issues are factored in.
That out of the way, what did they see? With age and gender controlled for, time spent watching TV was associated with an increased risk of dementia (a hazard ratio of 1.3, meaning they were 1.3 times more likely to be diagnosed with indications of dementia). Physical activity lowered the risks very slightly. In contrast, computer use lowered the risk by quite a bit more, dropping the hazard ratio to 0.8.
[...] Overall, the results suggest that we need to separate how we think about the problems associated with sedentary activity. In terms of physical health, any type of inactivity may be roughly equivalent. But regarding mental issues, how you spend your inactivity matters—some means of being a couch potato involve passive consumption, and others involve a greater degree of mental activity.
In this sense, the results fit neatly into a large body of research that indicates that remaining mentally active can provide a degree of protection from dementia. Things like reading and playing vocabulary games appear to generally reduce dementia risk, and the benefits seem to build up even if the reading happens when people are relatively young. So, there's some reason not to be surprised by this general outcome.
Journal Reference:
David A. Raichlen, Yann C. Klimentidis, M. Katherine Sayre, et al., Leisure-time sedentary behaviors are differentially associated with all-cause dementia regardless of engagement in physical activity, PNAS, 119, 2022. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2206931119
(Score: 2) by hopdevil on Thursday August 25 2022, @03:34AM (1 child)
And so died my mother, I would like not to repeat that. The best I can offer is an active lifestyle vs a passive one. TV is passive, and anything you can do to maintain an active healthy mind, do that.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday August 25 2022, @02:46PM
I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. I often wonder about cause vs. effect. IE, maybe people who are prone to neurological decline tend toward passive lifestyles? Research is still being done, obviously, and little by little they're getting insights into neurological problems.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Thursday August 25 2022, @04:33AM (7 children)
Anything that be commandeered to launch ads at me is a source of dementia.
The problem is that 99.9% of the time, I have no interest in the item, yet the advertiser has the means and desire to annoy the hell out of me. Almost like a vagrant on the sidewalk who positions himself directly in my path, pestering me for a buck, repositioning himself every time I revector my path to avoid him
Marketers call this JavaScript.
Or making TV unwatchable by means of incessant interruption and carefully planned interruption at critical plot events.
Both drive me crazy.
To the point of spending way too many of my resources trying to avoid these frustrations.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Informative) by RamiK on Thursday August 25 2022, @07:41AM (2 children)
Doesn't seem to be the case:
(the summary)
compiling...
(Score: 4, Funny) by ls671 on Thursday August 25 2022, @12:43PM (1 child)
I tremendously reduce the risk by watching TV on my computer!
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday August 25 2022, @02:05PM
Fortunately modern TVs actually are computers. Should save a lot of people from dementia.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Thursday August 25 2022, @03:31PM (3 children)
I've mentioned in other discussions I wear wireless headphones when watching TV. Many reasons- the fidelity is really good, full stereo, direct analog volume control on them, and best of all: power switch. It's easier than hitting mute on remote control. And, if it's something I'm actually interested in, I can walk around the house, even outside, getting things done, and still listen.
My first posts on greensite 20+ years ago were brief rants against javascript. Nobody listened. Even programmer friends of mine extolled the glories of javascript. Some months later, one of the brightest of them (who is a high-level team / project manager at a very major defense contractor) wrote to me and said that I was right, that javascript can do some pretty evil things.
I don't have a problem with functional web code, but I have many problems with the extent of what javascript has access to in our computers. The only safe way to run it is in some kind of sandbox, VM, physically isolated dedicated computer, etc.
Probably half of my web browsing is done with Old Opera (do not confuse Old Opera 12.18 with current chrome-based steaming pile). Javascript is globally OFF, and a few trusted sites are allowed to run it. Old Opera has per-site preferences. Some sites won't load due to newer encryption algorithms that Old Opera doesn't have (maybe someone has written a plugin? I haven't searched).
One of the main reasons I found Opera and turned off javascript: 22 years ago I was still on a 56k modem, and I quickly realized that with javascript off, pages loaded (way) faster. Evil things being done behind the curtain.
Now I'm using a cell phone hotspot for Internet and I have a monthly data cap, and turning javascript off saves me a ton of data. Of course many sites absolutely require it. I rarely use any sites that require javascript _and_ hoover up tons of data.
That said, the other half of my browsing is done with Vivaldi, which also has the ability to turn off javascript globally and allow it with per-site preferences. The UI for that isn't as easy as Old Opera, where you just right-click on a page and choose "Edit Site Preferences", but it is in there. Vivaldi has built-in ad and tracker blocking that works extremely well. So well that I've turned off my normal set of extensions like Privacy Badger, Ublock Origin, and many more. Worth a (free) try.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday August 25 2022, @06:53PM (2 children)
So, evil isn't necessarily being done behind the scenes. It's very easy to be bloated and slow, though. Couple that with dial-up speed internet and you get horrendous load times. Kids nowadays complain over a few seconds. How about a few seconds or minute(s) per image.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Friday August 26 2022, @03:21AM
Yeah, I forgot to mention I have images globally OFF too. You can right-click on most image placeholders and load just that image, or click a little thing in the status bar and load all of them. Vivaldi will do that too, but being based on chrome code, it's a bit of a pig.
Another issue / problem with Old Opera is rendering sites that are just horribly bad code and/or bad css, or some newer construct. It will occasionally hang and need to be forced to quit. You can often go to "View" -> "Style" -> "User Mode" and you'll just see the rendered html, which often works very well.
(Score: 3, Funny) by kazzie on Friday August 26 2022, @11:50AM
All that's needed for evil to be done behind the scenes is for good web designers to do nothing.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 25 2022, @06:21AM (2 children)
Television has zero interaction. The most you can do is switch channels, increase or decrease the volume, and maybe skip commercials if you know how to do so. Otherwise, you sit there, mindlessly drinking in whatever drivel some suited fool at the station thinks you will like.
Computers are interactive. There is no programming, per se. Even if you're an insatiable consumer of mindless entertainment, you have to interact with the computer well enough to order up your particular flavor of entertainment. But, the computer can be so much more than that.
Speaking of mindless entertainment: One of the younger generation commented some years ago, that it's good that I have a computer. That individual had heard that old people who play computer games were more mentally active and alert. I laughed, but I also wonder if what she read is true. Hmmmm - octogenarian gamers? Why not? Not that I'm a gamer, or even want to be.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by anubi on Thursday August 25 2022, @08:13AM
It's my old computer, loaded with all my math tools, C++ compiler, schematic capture, and PCB layout tools that I enjoy the most. My latest computer is just a DRM enforcement agent. I hardly ever use it.
But sometimes I have to communicate with governmental ar business which require specific softwares to communicate with them.
In most cases with businesses though, I have found it far easier to find another business that still works with older software and wants my business more than telling me I am an invalid and comply or go away. I usually just go away and find someone else.
But governments gotta be handled with kid gloves as we have allowed them the authority to stir up a lot of problems should we fail to comply.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Thursday August 25 2022, @08:43PM
I'm a gamer, and probably will be as long as I can physically play. I'm OK with most FPSes as long as they have easy mode that doesn't require a lot of twitch reflexes. I do tend towards RPGs however, and those will make you think about stuff. Puzzle games are also good for keeping the brain active.
I rarely just sit and watch TV anymore, as most of that is done while I'm working out or on the treadmill. I will sit and watch movies, but that isn't done very often.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2022, @02:07PM
Or is it more of the other way around - could be people with dementia have more difficulty using computers... The cost vs reward for them goes up so they use computers less.
Could be like saying people who run marathons are less likely to be crippled or have damaged legs. When the fact is crippled people tend to find marathons less rewarding.
So similarly those people with damaged brains may start finding it more difficult to do mental stuff and so they do less of that stuff.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Thursday August 25 2022, @05:07PM
I can't believe that zoning out on infinite-scrolling meme drivel posts is less dementia inducing than watching a PBS documentary.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.