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'Active' sitting is better for brain health: review of studies

105 pointsby mikhaelyesterday at 7:03 PM36 commentsview on HN

Comments

goda90yesterday at 8:46 PM

"Passively watching TV" feels like a common target for brain health/strength/etc discussions. I'm curious if there's been any studies into the differences that engagement with television programs can have on the brain. There's been a whole breadth of television programming over the decades. I think it would be wrong to treat it all as equal in regards to how it impacts your brain.

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nbosseyesterday at 7:26 PM

I'm confused by this... It seems to me like the relevant part is "playing computer games is good" not "the type of sitting you do matters". Playing computer games while standing might be even better

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dizzardyesterday at 10:18 PM

This article has nothing to do with sitting.

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Brajeshwartoday at 7:47 AM

Don’t do that. Don’t give me hope.

nikkwongyesterday at 8:33 PM

Original source:

https://news.uq.edu.au/2026-01-not-all-sitting-same-when-it-...

> "...Passive activities such as watching television have been linked to worse memory and cognitive skills, while ‘active sitting’ like playing cards or reading correlate with better brain health, researchers have found."

...Do these researchers even read this to themselves aloud before hitting publish? It's confounding that they would find "sitting" to be the active ingredient pushing the outcome differential. Obviously, if you remove the bodily posture from the action that the user is engaging in, you would observe the same outcome the researchers did—meaning sitting was not operative here (..duh).

Breaking news at 11: the brain works best when it’s actually used.

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rippeltippelyesterday at 8:35 PM

Breaking news! Using the brain is better for brain health than not using it.

Next: Playing chess on one leg is better for brain health than sitting.

daedrdevyesterday at 10:07 PM

Maybe in the future people will focus on solving problems some AGI can solve better to keep themselves in shape, like how exercise is a modern invention

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pedalpeteyesterday at 10:27 PM

That this is the state of "science" is very disappointing, and whenever I see the domain sciencealert, am pretty much trained that it is going to be nonsense.

Sadly, other science publications seem to be following a not dissimilar trend.

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griffinlamtoday at 3:38 AM

Very inspiring