BRAIN FITNESS PILOT PROJECT
Pilot study finds regular brain exercieses key to healthy ageing
18 January 2010
• Participants found improvements in their memory and were able to follow conversations better.
• Brain has the ability to change in response to new learning.
• Exercising the brain reduces the risk of developing dementia in later years.
Just two hours of brain exercises a week can markedly improve a person’s mental capacity and help fight age-related memory loss according to a recent study by Alzheimer’s Australia WA.
The “Brain Fitness Pilot Project” involved people aged in their 60s, 70s and 80s from retirement villages and seniors fitness centres, taking part in a structured brain fitness program two hours per week over an eight-week period.
The program consisted of a series of computer-based hearing exercises aimed at sharpening a person’s ability to take in speech so that the brain can hear and remember more details.
While a majority of participants reported an improvement in their train of thought and could remember names and shopping lists better, another 70 percent found an improvement in their hearing and their ability to follow and remember conversations.
Alzheimer’s Australia WA Chief Executive Officer Frank Schaper said the study demonstrated that a regular program of brain exercises will reduce the impact of cognitive decline as a person grows older and can lead to healthy ageing.
“Research now shows that much of age-related memory decline in later life is the result of negative lifestyle choices. Taking positive steps to ‘train the brain’ work in the same way physical exercise benefits the body,” Mr Schaper said.
“It may also help to reduce the risk of a person developing dementia later in life.”
Brain fitness is based on the idea that the brain is ‘plastic’ and has the ability to change in response to new learning and stimuli. It challenges the notion that we are predisposed to inevitable mental decline as we grow older.
Proactive brain fitness training for adults is now recognised internationally as a way to enhance healthy ageing and delay cognitive decline.
However Mr Schaper said there has not been a focus on such training in Australia, despite the nation’s rapidly ageing population and the predicted impact that age-related cognitive decline will have on our social, health and economic structures.
“If two hours a week can have such significant benefits, imagine the benefits if people undertake brain fitness routines 30 minutes each day,” Mr Schaper said.
The study was funded by Lotterywest and was conducted with the support of the Council of the Ageing WA’s Living Longer, Living Stronger program.
Study participants Wendy Brown, 62, and her mother Vicky Eyre, 84, both reported improvements in their memory after completing the brain fitness program.
“I am able to remember number sequences a lot better and that is already benefiting me in my work,” said Ms Brown who runs her own training and consultancy business.
“There have been less instances of me entering a room and forgetting what I was there to do while mum is now able to recall words much better than before.”
Another study participant Leila Kaulkriuter, 62, said since completing the program, she found she was able to remember a lot more in her daily activities.
“I now remember what I need to buy from the shops which means I don’t need as many lists as before,’ she said.
“Words come to me much more easily in conversations and I can recall characters in books and on TV.”
Please call Mathew on (08) 9388 2800 if you would like an on-site demonstration for your village or fitness centre.
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26 October 2009 Is your brain as fit as your body?
That is the question Alzheimer’s Australia WA set out to answer with their Lotterywest funded pilot project aimed at demonstrating the benefits of brain fitness training.
Launched in March in association with Council on the Ageing WA’s Living Longer Living Stronger (LLLS) program, project participants were asked to complete the computer based Posit Science Brain Fitness Program as part of their physical fitness regime.
Twice a week after giving their bodies a workout, they traded the treadmill for the laptop to give their brains the same attention
Five participants from Exercise for Life, an East Fremantle based LLLS fitness centre were the first in the project to complete the 40 session computer based program aimed at improving hearing and memory.
During the graduation ceremony held at Exercise for Life last week, the smiling participants received a medal and certificate of achievement.
Alzheimer’s Australia WA’s Brain Fitness Manager Mathew Lee was at the ceremony to congratulate the graduates.
“I heard many wonderful stories during the ceremony,” says Mr Lee. “One woman came up to me excited that she no longer needed shopping lists and could now easily remember the reason why she came into a room!”
The Posit Science Brain Fitness Program has been proven to increase memory an average 10 years. In addition, the pilot project has also shown that participants felt sharper and experienced improved focus and concentration, especially with conversations.
Exercise for Life chief executive Matt Harris got involved with the pilot project because he understood the importance of keeping both body and brain fit. In fact, Mr Harris is interested in the Brain Fitness Program being a permanent fixture in the Exercise for Life centres in East Fremantle and Bedford.
For more information on how you can keep your brain as fit as your body,please contact Mathew on (08) 9388 2800
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Brain Fitness Pilot Project – Proving the benefits of brain fitness training for seniors
15 June 2009
A Pilot Project was launched earlier this year by Alzheimer’s Australia WA in conjunction with Council on the Ageing (WA), Southern Cross Care and RAAFA Retirement Villages aimed at demonstrating the community benefits of brain fitness training.
The project, funded by Lotterywest, will involve introducing the Posit Science Brain Fitness Program Classic into two retirement communities and two senior’s physical fitness programs such as the COTA’s Living Longer Living Stronger (LLLS) program.
The participants in the four Pilot Project groups will complete the 40 one hour Posit Science Brain Fitness sessions in a group / community environment.
The two LLLS Brain Fitness pilot groups at the Loftus Recreation Centre in Leederville and the Exercise for Life centre in East Fremantle commenced the Brain Fitness sessions in late April and are progressing well and nearly half way through.
The program is very user friendly and those who with no previous computer experience have no problems working their way through the exercises.
The two Brain Fitness pilot groups in the retirement villages commenced their Brain Fitness sessions in early June and will be completing five sessions per week for an eight week period.
This Brain Fitness Pilot Project will provide information for a model that will assist the Alzheimer Australia (WA) in introducing brain fitness training into retirement communities, senior’s fitness centres and community groups.
For further information on the pilot project, please contact Mathew on (08) 9388 2800
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