Main roads
-
Too much TV can shrink your brain
-
Researchers have found brain shrinkage in people who watch TV a lot
-
The results were not due to sedentary behavior, but were directly related to television
WEDNESDAY, July 22, 2026 (NewsDay News) — It turns out your mother’s warnings were right — TV is actually rotting your brain, a new study says.
Researchers have reported that watching too much TV is associated with increased shrinkage in areas of the brain associated with memory and thinking. Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
The brain shrinkage wasn’t just due to being a couch potato, the researchers said, as other types of sedentary behavior weren’t linked to smaller brain volumes.
“We often encourage people not to spend too much time sitting, but experts want to expand this recommendation to include activities that are done while sitting because they seem to have specific effects on brain health,” said the lead researcher. Nathan Feather it is said in the news. He is a postdoctoral scholar in the Human and Evolutionary Biology Program at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.
For the new study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 1,700 people who participated in a long-term study of heart and brain health. Participants, with an average age of 53, were recruited between 1987 and 1989.
As part of the research, people were asked about their TV viewing habits. They were also given brain MRI scans.
The results showed that people who watched TV “very often” had wider structural differences in their brains than those who watched it “rarely” or “never”.
The team discovered a reduction in brain regions associated with early brain symptoms Alzheimer’s disease. They also found more white matter damage associated with cognitive decline and dementia.
These differences were found even after the researchers controlled for other factors such as physical activity, diabetes, smoking, drinking and body mass index (BMI). BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.
Interestingly, the researchers said it wasn’t sitting around while watching TV that caused these brain changes.
The researchers found that people who said they sat a lot at work had larger brain volumes and less white matter damage than those who sat to watch TV.
Men seemed to be particularly vulnerable to TV brain rot. When the MRI scans were separated by gender, most of the observed changes in the brain were seen in men, the researchers say.
Instead of encouraging patients to move more, doctors also want to recommend less TV time, the researchers said. Even better, people who sit around should consider replacing their TV time with other activities that stimulate the brain.
“For years, we’ve focused on how much people sit. Our findings suggest that we should focus on what they do while they’re sitting,” said the senior scientist. David Reichlenprofessor of biological sciences and anthropology at USC, said in a news release.
More information
The Cleveland Clinic has more information Television viewing and health.
Source: University of Southern California, news release, July 17, 2026
What does this mean for you?
People who want to relax around may consider doing something other than watching TV.
