{"id":10086,"date":"2018-04-23T06:00:49","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=10086"},"modified":"2018-04-22T19:38:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T23:38:58","slug":"what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html","title":{"rendered":"What Is Sitting Doing to My Brain?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-10088\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/laptop-3087585_1280-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"laptop-3087585_1280\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/>I am in a job in which I can sit for hours at a time. I am writing at my computer, answering emails, and working on projects&#8211;all from my desk. And when I get into an assignment or project, I can sit for hours with very little movement. Writing\u00a0a book, I can get in a zone and not move for days!<\/p>\n<p>But what is this doing to my brain, if anything at all?<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t think about it much until I read a new study. The researchers used MRI technology to look into the brain to see if they could predict what sedentary behavior does to the brain. They found that sitting reduces the structures of the brain that affects brain health. And even when you add physical activity, it doesn&#8217;t offset the harm that is done with prolonged periods of sitting. The parts of the brain affected, the medial temporal lobe (MTL) that thins, has to do with cognitive decline. Other memory structures in the brain are also affected in this negative way by sitting.<\/p>\n<p>I wrote a blog awhile ago entitled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/01\/is-sitting-the-new-smoking.html\">Sitting is the New Smoking<\/a> because so many of us have jobs that keep us glued to a desk. This study simply confirms the concern that sitting for long periods of time is hurting your health and specifically your brain. So, we need to get up and move, walk and talk instead of sitting at a conference table!<\/p>\n<p>Be intentional about movement. If you want a healthy brain, get up off of that chair!\u00a0Move,move, move!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source:\u00a0 Prolonged Sitting Tied to Brain Atrophy\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<i>Medscape<\/i>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0Apr\u00a017,\u00a02018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am in a job in which I can sit for hours at a time. I am writing at my computer, answering emails, and working on projects&#8211;all from my desk. And when I get into an assignment or project, I can sit for hours with very little movement. Writing\u00a0a book, I can get in a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[925],"tags":[4198,2959,874,2684],"class_list":["post-10086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mintle-mentions","tag-brain-and-sitting","tag-brain-health","tag-sedentary-lifestyle","tag-sitting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Is Sitting Doing to My Brain?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is Sitting Doing to My Brain?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am in a job in which I can sit for hours at a time. I am writing at my computer, answering emails, and working on projects&#8211;all from my desk. And when I get into an assignment or project, I can sit for hours with very little movement. Writing\u00a0a book, I can get in a&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-23T10:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-04-22T23:38:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2018\/04\/laptop-3087585_1280-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Is Sitting Doing to My Brain?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Is Sitting Doing to My Brain?","og_description":"I am in a job in which I can sit for hours at a time. 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Writing\u00a0a book, I can get in a&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2018-04-23T10:00:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-04-22T23:38:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2018\/04\/laptop-3087585_1280-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html","name":"What Is Sitting Doing to My Brain?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2018\/04\/laptop-3087585_1280-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2018-04-23T10:00:49+00:00","dateModified":"2018-04-22T23:38:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2018\/04\/laptop-3087585_1280-300x200.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2018\/04\/laptop-3087585_1280-300x200.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/04\/what-is-sitting-doing-to-my-brain.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Is Sitting Doing to My Brain?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice &amp; Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10086"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10092,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10086\/revisions\/10092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}