An update on our research and early results

Hi, I’m Larissa Bartlett. I’ve been busy working behind the scenes here at the Wicking Centre to plan and support the research activity that takes place in ISLAND. It’s a great honour to be involved in this ambitious, important public health project that has – as its main purpose – the goal of reducing the future incidence of dementia in Tasmania.

The ISLAND research program kicked off in October 2019 and we have now collected detailed information from over 8,000 Tasmanian residents about their dementia risk-related knowledge and behaviours. About half of our participants have gone on to complete the annual surveys in October 2020 and again last year, and many have also done our thinking and memory assessments and provided a blood sample for research analysis. This multi-source data from a diverse sample of Australians aged 50+ is an incredibly valuable research resource. We can now start to use this information to investigate the relationships between health behaviours, demographic factors and the functional and biological signals of brain health. 

As we embark on the next few years of this 10-year project, we hope to keep all our research participants engaged in the study, so that we can track the influence of changes in knowledge and behaviours on the future risk of developing dementia. What we learn from ISLAND is not only relevant to our future here in Tasmania, it will also help guide health policy and practice around Australia and beyond.

We are a bit excited to reveal some first-cut early results from our ISLAND research! Please join us on April 27th, for an interactive evening webinar on the evening before our Hobart-based Brain Health Expo.

You can register for the webinar via this link.

I want to take this opportunity to thank every ISLAND research participant for taking the time to provide the data we use in our research. We hope you are feeling better informed and able to take action to maximise your own brain health, and the information in your personal Dementia Risk Profile report, our newsletters and – if you’ve done it – the Preventing Dementia online course is proving to be useful for you. We’re looking forward to sharing the effects of the program on dementia risk that appear to be arising as a result of your involvement in the ISLAND Project.  

p.s. If you are an ISLAND research participant who hasn’t been back lately to do our assessments, you can stay involved by responding to the next research invitation. We’d love to welcome you back!

Our upcoming sleep study

Sleep is something that we don’t often prioritise in everyday life, but also something that can have a big impact on our health. Long-term lack of sleep and frequent awakenings overnight have been associated with several health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, memory loss and weight gain. People generally need between 7-9 hours of sleep each night, but this does not have to be all in one go. As we get older, our sleep patterns change and can result in more broken sleep overnight than we would like. This is where naps can be very beneficial, giving a boost of energy throughout the day and improving our overall health. But there is a golden rule for naps: limit them to only 20 minutes for a quick refresh or 90 minutes to prevent feeling ‘groggy’ when you wake. 

After middle age, there is also a higher risk of developing certain sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnoea and insomnia. One sleep disorder that we are particularly interested in is isolated REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder (iRBD). This is a rare disorder in which people act out their dreams. Usually when we are in dreaming sleep (REM sleep) our body cannot move, but in iRBD, there is a change in the brain that allows the body to move during dreaming, so much so that some people kick, shout and even run around the room. We think that only a very small number of people have this disorder, but it is important to study because previous research suggests that many people with the disorder will develop dementia or Parkinson’s disease later in life. In the ISLAND Sleep Study, we hope to find out how many people actually have iRBD in Tasmania and also investigate certain characteristics that explain why some people develop further diseases, such as dementia, and others do not. 

We hope to invite you all to participate in our sleep study very soon, please keep an eye on your emails or ISLAND software portal for further information. 

Next Preventing Dementia MOOC starts in May

Our next Preventing Dementia MOOC starts in May providing access to the latest evidence on dementia risk reduction.

This free course provides an opportunity to engage with the perspectives of a global community, without requiring exams or assignments!

You can enrol today through your ISLAND Home portal.

The University of Tasmania received funding from the Australian Government. Views and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of its authors, and may not be the same as those held by the Department of Health.

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