In this ISLAND Newsletter

• The Importance of Lifelong Learning
• Member Lesley and the benefits of dancing
• Member Ian and the benefits of playing Bridge
• Mature Age Dance Group - MADE
• Watch the recording of our Hobart Information Session
• Farewell to one of the ISLAND Team

Thanks for being involved in ISLAND and helping us reduce dementia risk in Tasmania. 

The Importance of Lifelong Learning

Actively engaging in mentally stimulating activities throughout our lives may result in cognitive benefits later in life. This may help delay, or even prevent, the development of dementia. 

Continued learning and engagement in cognitively stimulating interests increases cognitive reserve. Cognitive reserve directly relates to the number of ‘connections’ we have in our brains and how nimble our brains are at finding alternative ways to get something done. It provides us with a level of protection against neurological changes as we age. 

So what sort of mentally stimulating activities might help build up our cognitive reserve? It’s important to find something we enjoy and that challenges our brain – and then do it regularly. For example: -

• Puzzles, quizzes or crosswords.
• Games such as chess, cards or bridge.
• Playing an instrument or singing. 
• Arts, crafts, dance or other exercise - especially in a group. 
• Volunteering for a cause that has meaning for you. 
• Learning another language. 
• Reading books or joining a book club. 

There are many other possible examples – what’s important is to find something that you enjoy. 

Being social - both online and in person - is also good for your brain. Holding a conversation exercises a wide range of cognitive skills. These include listening, consideration of meaning and feelings, finding the right words to be understood and linking other events or things to what you are talking with someone about. It’s also important to keep in touch with people who matter to you – your family and your friends. 

Lifelong learning and new knowledge is good for your grey matter – you’re keeping your brain healthy!

ISLAND Member Lesley and the benefits of dancing

Lesley has completed a Diploma of Family History as part of the ISLAND Campus program, graduating in 2022. Since then, she’s been avidly tracing both sides of her family tree and has learnt a lot about her ancestry.

Professionally, Lesley has a Masters degree in marine science and is a principal research scientist at  CSIRO in Hobart, specialising in marine bio-optics. Her research studies how light interacts with sea water and the biological materials (such as phytoplankton or mineral material) in it. Her team uses satellites to map the levels of different biological materials in the oceans. How light interacts with water is critical to how marine ecosystems function and Lesley is world renowned for her work in ocean colour research and has helped with projects including water quality, fisheries management, and sourcing biofuels from algae. 

Lesley has a family history of dementia and joined ISLAND to inform herself about personal risk and what she could do to improve her overall wellbeing. She’s completed all the MOOCs and recommends them highly. She’s also a very good cook and bakes and volunteers for the Country Womens Association (CWA). She reads and loves listening to podcasts and enjoys exploring Tassie on bushwalks. Lesley has enjoyed playing, and socialising through, many sports throughout her life including dancing as a child, basketball, tennis and squash. In recent years, she’s joined a dance group and now performs as part of an ensemble. You can read about Lesley’s dance group later in this newsletter – Lesley says the group has provided her with challenges, new capabilities, and great friendships. A very social activity, with new routines to keep learning all the time – it exercises both the mind and the body.

ISLAND Member Ian and the benefits of playing bridge

Ian is an active member of the ISLAND Project. He’s a retired chartered accountant who had numerous senior executive roles covering banking, finance, auditing and lending. In addition to his accounting qualification, he has an MBA and has completed all the ISLAND Project MOOCs! He has a family history of dementia on his Mum’s side and is very proactive at reducing his personal risk. He's an ex-runner and motorcyclist and now enjoys a regular 'swim and gym' routine, volunteering, doing word puzzles, socialising, and spending time with his two year old grand-daughter.

Ian's also a very keen bridge player and member of the Tasmanian Bridge Association. The TBA provides bridge lessons and supervised play for novices and runs 10 regular bridge sessions every week, catering to all experience levels. Bridge is a very enjoyable and social game as well as being intellectually challenging. It teaches numeracy, probability, strategy and concentration and is great fun.  As a social activity coupled with mental agility it might help protect our brains as we get older. If you’d like to get involved, visit the TBA website for contact details. 

Thanks Ian for your time and for sharing how you try to reduce your dementia risk through the range of physical, social and cognitively challenging activities you enjoy. 

Upcoming Performances by MADE

Earlier in this newsletter, you read about Lesley and her involvement with the dance group MADE. Some really good news for dancers is that research has shown a positive connection between dance and hippocampal volume. The hippocampus is the part of the brain associated with short term memory and is commonly affected by changes in our brain as we age. 

It’s never to late to have a go at something new. If you’d like to have a go at dancing with MADE, you can find information about their classes here. Anyone, of any ability, is welcome to come along. 

If you’d like to watch one of their performances, they will be performing two shows – HandMADE and MADE TO LAST at the Theatre Royal in Hobart and Burnie Arts Centre in September 2023. Further information and booking links can be found here. 

Watch our recent information session in Hobart

Thanks to every one of the nearly 200 people who came to our recent information session in Hobart. Its always great to see you face to face and we hope to bring our research team to the North and North West of the state later in 2023. 

As promised, here's a recording for you all to view at your leisure. 

Watch the recording here. 

Farewell to one of the ISLAND Team

Some of you may have had contact with Helen Douglas during your time in the ISLAND Project. Helen is our Project Manager and has been involved in both the dementia prevention study, our community events and our cognition clinic since we started back in 2019. 

Helen has been appointed by LaTrobe University as a Program Manager for Dementia Training Australia. She will be working with a group of General Practitioners delivering dementia training and education to GPs and practice nurses.

Helen has made a tremendous contribution to the success of ISLAND as well as the ISLAND Cognitive Clinic. Helen’s great capacity in planning and management, as well as her ability to coordinate and motivate the project team, has been crucial for all elements of ISLAND and various subprojects.  

All of us in ISLAND are sorry to see Helen go but we wish her well in her new role. It's great to see that Helen will be working in an area that is pivotal for improving care for people with dementia throughout the community. 

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.

CRICOS Provider Code: 00586B | ABN 30 764 374 782