Over 80,000 Kiwis live with dementia. As we age and our cognitive abilities change, concerns about dementia can begin to loom large. It’s natural to worry about it and want to take steps to reduce your risk. A new study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine activities examines activities that may help reduce your dementia risk, in this article we will look at the findings.
Dementia is the term used to describe a group of symptoms caused by severe cognitive decline. These symptoms affect memory, thinking, language, changes in mood, behaviour, and more.
This is different from normal aging or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia symptoms will be severe enough to impair daily life and independent function.
There are different types of dementia, with the most common being Alzheimer’s disease – it accounts for 60-80% of cases. The second most common is vascular dementia. Some people can experience multiple types of dementia at once, known as mixed dementia.
Dementia is caused by damage to and the eventual death of cells in the brain. This damage can have a variety of causes including but not limited to genetics, disease, damage to your brains blood vessels, injury, or lifestyle choices. This damage affects the ability for brain cells to communicate with each other, leading to symptoms of dementia. The symptoms depend on the area of the brain that is affected.
Age is not a direct cause for dementia; it is however the biggest risk factor. Your risk of developing dementia increases significantly after the age of 65, but it is not an inevitable part of aging. Broader health and lifestyle factors can also be risk factors.
The study found that engaging in mentally active sedentary behaviours was correlated with a reduced risk for developing dementia among middle-aged and older adults. The key findings can be summarised into the following points:
Taken together, the study adds to growing evidence that how we spend our sitting time may matter for brain health.
The study, published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine in March 2026 investigated whether different types of sedentary behaviour could affect dementia risk in different ways. The researchers compared two types of sedentary behaviours. These behaviours were categorised based on the basis of their level of cognitive demand:
The study examined the association of these behaviours with dementia and examined what the impact might be if time spent in passive sedentary behaviours were replaced with more mentally active behaviours.
The researchers analysed the health data of more than 20,000 adult participants between the ages of 35 and 64 over 19 years (1997-2016).
This was the first study to distinguish between sedentary activities that are passive and mentally active in association with dementia. This is important as previous research suggests that all sedentary behaviours were associated with higher dementia risk. It suggests that not all sedentary behaviours are equal, which differs from previous research. The study found that people who spent more time reading, writing or doing mentally stimulating work had a lower risk of developing dementia over time.
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