Mercury (Hobart)

Dementia trial aims to cut risks

- MILES PROUST

A MELBOURNE university is calling for participan­ts for a trial that will investigat­e if better sleep, losing weight or improving mood reduces the risk of dementia.

The BetterBrai­ns trial led by Monash University’s Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health is recruiting more than 1500 people across Australia and, in the first of its kind, will be conducted entirely online.

Yen Ying Lim said the trial would help researcher­s identify effective ways to slow thinking and memory decline.

“Previous research estimates that approximat­ely 40 per cent of all dementia can be attributed to highly modifiable risk factors, such as low mood, poor sleep, poor heart health and low cognitive and social engagement,” Associate Professor Lim said.

“Our team wants to find out if targeting at least one of these risk factors can help preserve thinking and memory, and whether this has a ‘domino effect’ on other key risk factors.”

Participan­ts will be allocated at random to one of two study groups.

One group will receive a personalis­ed healthy lifestyle program that includes telephone and online sessions with a clinician, as well as educationa­l material about living a healthy lifestyle to improve brain health while the other group will only receive the educationa­l material.

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