Whether you鈥檙e suffering from a concussion, early signs of dementia or are concerned about healthy aging, 91亚色 neuroscientist says combining thinking and movement builds brain resilience

Dementia can be brewing in the background for years before the telltale signs of memory lapses and difficulties with wayfinding creep into people鈥檚 daily lives or are caught through memory tests, but endless crossword puzzles or sudoku are unlikely enough to make a meaningful difference.

Decades of research as the scientific lead of 91亚色鈥檚 Sensorimotor Neuroscience Laboratory have taught Professor Lauren Sergio that brain games are not enough to stave off dementia or recover from a , at any age. The missing piece is combining , she says. 鈥淐ognitive brain training on its own hasn鈥檛 been shown to work in terms of maintaining functional independence as it doesn鈥檛 incorporate movement.鈥�

Brain changes with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia often show up first as , such as through movement, coordination and slower reactions when having to think and move at the same time, rather than with memory issues, she adds. For those with , whether elite athletes, children or older adults, they recover faster when given tasks that force their brains to make new connections through movement.

Her biomedical research is now being used as the basis for a new brain performance platform, by , bringing cutting-edge neuroscience from the lab into the real word. 鈥淭his is a toolbox that can not only be used by people concerned with their brain health, but it can help clinicians, such as gerontologists, as well as other health-care providers, to understand and potentially track brain changes for people concerned about dementia as they age or those suffering from an . The concepts of brain health from my research could be incorporated into their work,鈥� Sergio, 91亚色 Research Chair in Brain Health and Gender in Action.

The NERON platform provides a cognitive baseline and track changes and improvements over time as users do a series of interactive brain and movement training challenges designed to develop new and stronger neural pathways. The goal is to help improve functional ability to do everyday tasks, catch early brain changes and provide tasks to build brain resilience based on Sergio鈥檚 research.

鈥淭hrough dozens of studies, we found using a approach allows us to look at movement as a window into how well the brain regions are talking to each other,鈥� says Sergio, who worked with Innovation 91亚色 to get her research out to a broader audience. 鈥淭his is research that for me is really important for it to be accessible to the public in a way that can benefit them starting with a simple way to test how well their brain is functioning.鈥�

Continuing to challenge the brain with the kinds of tasks available on the platform can help build cognitive reserve, which not only helps the brain recover faster from a concussion but also provides a buffer against cognitive decline.

"Everyone is concerned about their brain health but measuring how it performs under real load has mostly stayed inside research labs," says Reed Hanoun, CEO, NERON. "We built a way to do it in under 10 minutes, anywhere, so brain performance can finally be tracked as routinely as any other vital sign using any mobile device."

The tasks are designed to continually challenge the brain. Although they may seem simple 鈥� like moving a computer mouse to the right to complete an onscreen task when the cursor moves unexpectedly to the left 鈥� it requires the brain to abandon automatic mode and really think about completing the task.

鈥淚t turns out if you are having a problem with that kind of task, it could be an early warning sign, either of a past history of a brain injury or future dementia,鈥� says Sergio, who has received multiple grants for her research through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Through her research with young athletes who have played a sport competitively for more than seven years, she has found they recover function and performance skills faster after a concussion than house league children and youth who have only played a sport for a couple of years. Those athletes who play a particular sport for years develop a particular visual motor skill that helps protects their brain. Sergio is now also looking at older elite athletes to see if they retain that brain resilience as they age.

Sports are not the only way to develop these brain protecting connections. Operating a drone or a backhoe or reversing a vehicle with an RV camper attached into a parking spot are everyday examples how the brain is engaged while doing movement. 鈥淏elieve it or not, that guy operating a backhoe, he's using way more of his brain when he's working than if he takes a shovel and digs something out manually, which is far less complicated,鈥� says Sergio.

鈥淎ll your brain regions have to talk to each other if you're just using a little joystick to do something, like fly a drone. Those sorts of skills, it turns out it requires a lot of brain communication.鈥�

The key is to force your brain out of its comfort zone so it will build new neural connections. 鈥淭ake up a new instrument, learn a new language, start doing something with your left hand that you would normally do with your right, like brushing your teeth, try pickleball with your left hand or parallel parking your car on the opposite side of the road, as you would if driving in the United Kingdom,鈥� says Sergio of 91亚色鈥檚 School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Health. 鈥淧racticing any of these kinds of skills where you鈥檙e challenging your brain to think while it鈥檚 doing a new activity could actually help counteract decline.鈥�

Gaming is another one. Sergio points to the brains of gamers as having well-connected neuron pathways not necessarily evident in non-gamers. 鈥淵ou want the surgeon who was a gamer as a teenager doing your laparoscopic surgery,鈥� she says. Although half joking, she points out their brain networks are usually really strong for doing the types of decoupling tasks, where they are often using a monitor to guide their instruments, demanded of today鈥檚 surgeons. 鈥淭hat's also who you want to back up your RV camper.鈥�

Her research with athletes, gamers and musicians, which has included imaging their brains while they do complicated tasks, has found they have built up some cognitive protection through brain connections in a way that doing a simpler task, like reading an email, doesn鈥檛. The brain鈥檚 networks just don鈥檛 light up in the same way.

The bottom line is we need to move our bodies while thinking. 鈥淣europlasticity doesn't go away. You can always learn new things,鈥� says Sergio.

About 91亚色

91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for meaningful life and career paths. 91亚色's Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campus in Costa Rica offers students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs, while at the Markham Campus, innovation, technology, entrepreneurship and industry collaboration are built into every program. 91亚色鈥檚 new School of Medicine, the first Canadian medical school to focus on community-based primary health-care education, will welcome its first cohort in September 2028 (subject to accreditation). 91亚色 was recently named one of Canada鈥檚 Greenest Employers for the 14th consecutive year. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

About NERON AI

is a neurotech company making brain performance measurable and trainable for everyone, anytime, anywhere. In under ten minutes, NERON turns how well the brain and body coordinate into an objective Brain Performance Score; a window into the brain's Cognitive Reserve people can track over time, grounded in 20+ years of neuroscience.

Contacts:

Sandra McLean, 91亚色, sandramc@yorku.ca

Reed Hanoun, CEO, NERON AI, Reed@NeronAI.com

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New research initiative will focus on the aging brain and the complex care needs of older adults with dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment

March 16, 2023鈥擳oronto, Ontario鈥擟anadian Institutes of Health Research

Dementia is having a substantial and growing impact in Canada and around the world. Based on current trends, by 2030, the number of people living with dementia will nearly double.

The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the best quality of life for the aging population in Canada by addressing the challenges of aging and brain health issues, including dementia.

Today, the Honourable Kamal Khera, Minister of Seniors, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, announced a $38.3 million investment over five years through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Aging for a new Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment in Aging (BHCIA) Research Initiative.

This new initiative will support the latest areas of research to study the brain as it ages and identify what can be done to reduce the risks of dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment. Through the development and launch of strategic funding opportunities, the initiative also aims to improve the care and services for people living with cognitive impairment, including dementia as well as improve the wellbeing of their caregivers and care providers.

The BHCIA Research Initiative is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and partners, including the  and its , the  , the , the , the  and the .

Quotes

鈥淎s we all age, protecting our safety while maintaining our wellbeing is crucial for a good quality of life. Through this new Research Initiative, we are supporting better care and services for those living with cognitive impairment, including dementia while ensuring the wellbeing of their care providers and caregivers. By supporting innovative projects and research across the country, we are helping improve health outcomes for people living with brain health issues, including dementia, and contributing to a better quality of life for them, their families, and caregivers.鈥�

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Health

鈥淲e all know someone affected by dementia or other cognitive impairments and the profound challenges it poses for seniors, their caregivers and families. Research is critical to help us to find better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat dementia, and improve the quality of life of everyone affected by it. By doing so, we can create more inclusive communities where people living with cognitive impairment and their caregivers feel valued and supported."

The Honourable Kamal Khera
Minister of Seniors

鈥淓very hour nine seniors are diagnosed with dementia in Canada. Our government is committed to improving the quality of life of those affected by neurodegenerative diseases by investing in research that will make the strongest possible impact on the health care of Canadians, particularly seniors. This $38.3 M funding for the BHCIA research initiative through the CIHR aims to transform our understanding of brain aging & dementia and improve healthcare providers鈥� approach to brain health care.鈥�

Francesco Sorbara
Member of Parliament for Vaughan-Woodbridge

鈥淭hrough the CIHR Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment in Aging Research Initiative, researchers will identify and address challenges and knowledge gaps related to age-related cognitive impairment, and bring us closer to understanding, preventing and effectively treating dementia and other forms of cognitive disease. From knowledge creation to implementation, this research will transform current approaches to care for those living with dementia and support for their caregivers.鈥�

Dr. Jane Rylett
Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Aging

"Given that most Canadians are in some way affected by dementia, this CIHR research initiative is significant. It joins together the collective strengths and concerns of an impressive array of government and non-profit partners, and it will provide researchers a platform to think creatively about ways to reduce dementia鈥檚 prevalence and improve access to care services. Importantly, it will consider the well-being of family-and-friend care partners, who are foundational to dementia care, but receive less attention to their own needs than is warranted."

Dr. Tamara Daly
Director, 91亚色 Centre for Aging Research and Education

Quick facts

• Alzheimer鈥檚 disease is the most common form of dementia and contributes to a majority of dementia cases.
• The BHCIA Research Initiative is one of several ways CIHR supports brain health and dementia research. Between 2016-17 and 2020-21, CIHR invested more than $212M in dementia research, including $49M in 2020-21 alone.
• In 2023, CIHR will establish the Dementia Research Funders Alliance to enhance collaboration and the research impacts of the BHCIA Research Initiative. The Alliance will bring together brain health and dementia funding partners in Canada to identify and act upon common interests in brain health and dementia research, highlight research gaps and needs, and circulate the knowledge gained through dementia research.
• Canada鈥檚 National Dementia Strategy, released in 2019, aims to prevent dementia, advance therapies and find a cure, and improve the quality of life of people living with dementia and their caregivers. The strategy relies on the collaborative efforts of many organizations and individuals across the country including federal, provincial, territorial, and local governments; advocacy groups; researchers; health care providers; and academics. The Government of Canada will continue to work collaboratively with these organizations and individuals on the implementation of the strategy.

Related products

Associated links

Contacts

Guillaume Bertrand
Senior Communications Advisor and Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Health
613-957-0200

Media Relations
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
613-941-4563
mediarelations@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

At the  (CIHR) we know that research has the power to change lives. As Canada's health research investment agency, we collaborate with partners and researchers to support the discoveries and innovations that improve our health and strengthen our health care system.

Reposted from .

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CIHR to support research on inflammatory disease, care for rural dementia patients, and the health of urban Indigenous children.

TORONTO, March 12, 2019 鈥� Three 91亚色 professors have been awarded funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) , for research on inflammatory disease, care in rural communities for people with dementia, and improving measurement of urban Indigenous children鈥檚 health.

Ali Abdul Sater, an assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health, is principal investigator on a five-year that has been awarded a CIHR grant of $803,250. 聽

Recent research by Abdul Sater showed that people with a certain genetic variation make less of the signaling adapter protein TRAF1, which 鈥渓oosens the brakes鈥� on their inflammatory cells and increases their risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Designing drug therapies to target TRAF1 in inflammatory and automimmune disease is difficult because TRAF1 plays additional, and often opposing, roles in other immune pathways. Abdul Sater鈥檚 project proposes to dissect the disparate TRAF1 functions and mutate them to affect one immune pathway at a time. This will enable him to design drug therapies targeting the specific TRAF1 functions that provide good drug therapies for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

Mary Fox, an associate professor in the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health, and a member of YU-CARE, is principal investigator on a three-year that will receive $321,300 in CIHR funding. The project will improve hospital-to-home transitional care to help persons with dementia in rural Ontario and Nova Scotia recover their functioning after a hospital stay. Transitional care refers to healthcare services people receive to ensure their needs continue to be met as they return home from the hospital but research in this area has not focused on functioning or included persons with dementia.

This is an important area of research because older people with dementia often lose the ability to do everyday activities while in hospital such as dressing themselves. If they do not get back to functioning independently within one month of coming home from the hospital, they are unlikely to ever do so. In this study, older people with dementia and their families will evaluate several practical care strategies to see if the strategies fit their needs and how to improve them. Then, healthcare providers will be invited to tell the researchers what they need to provide the strategies and how to enhance their delivery. Results of the research will be used to refine the strategies, so they become part of transitional care in rural communities.

Michael Rotondi, an associate professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health, is developing new statistical methods to improve measurement of urban Indigenous children鈥檚 health. 聽In partnership with researchers at St. Michael鈥檚 Hospital and Indigenous community organizations, the $100,000 grant for their one-year will enable Rotondi鈥檚 team to combine data from six community-based Our Health Counts studies of Indigenous children in Hamilton, Ottawa, Toronto, London, Thunder Bay and Kenora, Ontario.

This is important because early evidence from the Toronto children鈥檚 health dataset shows a potentially higher rate of many health concerns among urban Indigenous children, including emergency room and neonatal intensive care unit usage as well as depression and anxiety, but lacks sufficient precision to make valid conclusions. 聽By developing new statistical methods, they will combine data across study sites and get a more accurate picture of all the available health information in their studies.

Dean Paul McDonald congratulated researchers from 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health who submitted projects for the Fall 2018 CIHR funding.

鈥淭his competition attracts the very best researchers across Canada. The fact that 30 per cent of applications from the Faculty of Health were successful, nearly double the national average, is a reflection of the level of excellence and innovation that is typical of our faculty members,鈥澛爏aid McDonald.

91亚色 champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university 鈥� our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.

91亚色 U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:
Janice Walls, Media Relations, 91亚色, 416 455 4710, wallsj@yorku.ca

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TORONTO, Nov. 1, 2016 鈥� It鈥檚 tempting to dip into the leftover Halloween treats, but new research out of 91亚色 has found eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, combined with regular exercise, leads to better cognitive functioning for younger and older adults, and may delay the onset of dementia.

91亚色 U post-doctoral fellow Alina Cohen and her team, including Professors Chris I. Ardern and Joseph Baker, looked at cross-sectional data of 45,522 participants, age 30 to 80+, from the 2012 annual component of the Canadian Community Health Survey.

What they found was that for those who are normal weight or overweight, but not obese, eating more than 10 servings of fruit and vegetable daily was linked to better cognitive functioning. When moderate exercise was added, those eating less than five servings, reported better cognitive functioning.

Higher levels of physical activity were linked to the relationship between higher daily fruit and vegetable consumption and better cognitive performance. Those with higher body mass indexes, low activity levels and fruit and vegetable consumption were associated with poorer cognitive functioning.

鈥�Factors such as adhering to a healthy lifestyle including a diet that is rich in essential nutrients, regular exercise engagement, and having an adequate cardiovascular profile all seem to be effective ways by which to preserve cognitive function and delay cognitive decline,鈥� said Cohen.

With rising rates of inactivity and obesity, the researchers wanted to know if there was a relationship between clusters of risk factors for cognitive decline, and how lifestyle factors might help prevent or delay it. Few studies have looked at the relationship between physical activity and eating fruit and vegetables and the effect it has on the brain for both younger and older adults.

鈥�It is pertinent that we develop a better understanding of the lifelong behaviours that may contribute to cognitive decline in late life by implementing a life-span approach whereby younger, middle-aged, and older adults are collectively studied, and where lifestyle risk factors are evaluated prior to a diagnosis of dementia,鈥� said Cohen.

The paper, 鈥�,鈥� was published today in the Journal of Public Health, Oxford University Press.

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聽is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university 鈥� our 11 faculties and 26 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni. 91亚色 U's fully bilingual Glendon campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91亚色 Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097, sandramc@yorku.ca

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