A world-first study being conducted by The University of Sydney could radically revolutionise treatment strategies for one of society’s most debilitating mental illnesses.
Run in collaboration with UNSW and receiving one million dollars in funding from the National Health and Research Medical Council, the three-year trial aims to ascertain whether structured regimes of physical and mental exercise can delay or even prevent the onset of dementia.
“Recent research has shown that physical and mental exercise during later life is important for optimal brain function and the reduced occurrence of memory problems,” says the trial’s resident exercise physiologist Angela Lange. “The aim of this study is to actually look at combining both physical and mental exercises and seeing the effects of combining those two forms of treatment in people that have mild cognitive impairment.”
Currently affecting over 200,000 elderly Australians and costing the community around 3.2 billion dollars in direct health care costs, dementia constitutes a group of symptoms caused by the gradual death of brain cells. These symptoms frequently include impairment of memory, reasoning and planning capabilities.
“The hope is that the study findings will ultimately lead to a reduction in the individual and societal burdens of dementia,” says Lange. “That means enabling people to be independent in their own homes for longer and not be needing to rely so much on institutionalised care.”
With trial organisers still recruiting potential participants in the 60-year-plus age bracket, Lange says the results may also lead to a reduction in dependence on traditional drug-based dementia treatments.
“Pharmacological measures used to prevent cognitive decline in at-risk individuals have been shown to be beneficial in some studies, but the effects on daily function are often small, and many people suffer adverse reactions to these types of medications,” she says.
The study will not only aim to measure the effects of intervention strategies on cognitive performance and functional independence, but also how long any documented benefits last. Participants will undergo MRI scans on their brain at the trial outset and again after six-months of trial involvement. During the following 12-months participants will follow their usual activities, without any active interventions. Participants will then undergo another brain scan and full set of cognitive and physical tests.
Importantly, the discipline of exercise physiology is gaining greater prominence within the university’s Faculty of Health Sciences. In response to its rapid emergence as a key field of chronic disease treatment, the university will next year commence a Graduate Entry Master of Exercise Physiology program.
“While the principles of exercise physiology can be applied to healthy people, the field is largely about the application of exercise to a variety of disease conditions,” says Nicholas O’Dwyer, Head of discipline, Exercise and Sport Science. “It’s most useful in people with metabolic diseases, cardio vascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and also with those encountering loss of strength through ageing. Over the last 10 to 20 years, the evidence has accumulated very strongly to support the benefits of exercise for many of these conditions.”
Source: University of Sydney
