Time used differently across society, can undermine how one manages dementia risk: Researchers

New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) How time is used differently by sections of a society and therefore gets unequally distributed can significantly undermine one's ability to manage their risk of dementia, researchers argue and call for policies that allow an individual to engage in brain-healthy behaviours.

Essential aspects of daily lifestyle take up 10 hours -- at least seven hours of sleep, up to an hour of physical and social activity each, half an hour per meal -- at the bare minimum, but is not an ideal amount for maintaining and promoting brain health, said the team from the University of New South Wales Sydney in Australia and Ireland's Trinity College Dublin, which reviewed evidence from previously published studies.

Results suggest more than 10 hours a day might be required for engaging in brain-health activities, excluding the time needed for work, commute, personal care and caregiving, and household routines, the authors said in the article, published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity journal.

Structural conditions, including irregular work hours, digital overload and socioeconomic disadvantage, can create 'temporal inequity' or 'time poverty' that disproportionately affects already vulnerable groups, they added.

A 2024 Lancet Commission report added high cholesterol and loss of vision to 12 previously recognised risk factors for dementia, including low education, air pollution, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Nearly 45 per cent of the world's dementia cases could be prevented by addressing the risk factors, the report said.

"However, many people simply don't have the discretionary time to exercise, rest properly, eat healthily or stay socially connected. This lack of time -- what we call 'time poverty' -- is a hidden barrier to dementia risk reduction," said lead author Susanne Roehr, associate professor at centre for healthy brain ageing, University of New South Wales Sydney.

The authors wrote, "Although evidence for modifiable risk factors of dementia, such as sleep, physical activity, nutrition, and social engagement, is strong, adopting healthy behaviours requires time." "In this Personal View, we integrate insights from epidemiology, neuroscience, and time-use research to argue that addressing temporal inequity is essential for brain health and dementia risk reduction," they said.

Further, low and middle-income countries, which are projected to see the most rapid increase in dementia cases in the decades to come, "bear a disproportionate burden of temporal inequity (time poverty)", the researchers said.

They added that frameworks on brain health need to shift away from neglecting time or prescribing how time should be used towards diverse and culturally grounded approaches.

They called for a coordinated action across multiple levels, governments legislating flexible work and caregiving leave, workplaces allowing a 'right-to-disconnect', safe walking and cycling networks in communities and health systems assessing how one uses time into brain-health tools.

International collaboration, especially with LMICs, can extend these benefits through co-developed, culturally grounded solutions and support for time-saving infrastructures, the team said.

Further, studies on how time is used by varied sections of the society is underdeveloped in low and middle-income countries and are urgent for an equitable reduction of dementia risk, they said. PTI KRS NB