Healthy Body, Healthy Brain

Healthy Body, Healthy Brain
Campaign News

NIHSeniorHealth Offers Tips on Eating Well as You Get Older
May 07, 2008

How should you eat as you get older? Which foods are likely to keep you most healthy and which ones should you limit? Is it possible to eat well and stay within a healthy weight? These and other questions are addressed in "Eating Well as You Get Older," the latest topic to be added to NIHSeniorHealth, the health and wellness Web site developed by the National Institute on Aging (NIA)... Read the full story on NIA's website.

News you can Use: Tips and Tools for Alzheimer's Patients, Caregivers
March 18, 2008

What preventative measures can you take to reduce your risk of Alzheimer's? The Alzheimer's Association highlights simple lifestyle modifications that can maintain the health of your brain and lower your risk... Read the full story at ABC News.

Alzheimer's Disease Booming Among American Baby Boomers

Every 71 seconds in this country, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and a startling new report out today from the Alzheimer's Association predicts that one out of every eight baby boomers — or almost 10 million Americans — is expected to develop the disease. If new treatments are years away, is there anything you can do today that might prevent it? Read the full story at ABC News.

Healthy Body, Healthy Brain Campaign Begins
August 28, 2007

The Alaska Division of Public Health and the Alaska Commission on Aging have begun an information effort aimed at informing seniors and baby boomers about the latest research on the links between lifestyle habits and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD). Studies show that healthy eating, physical activity, mental challenges and regular enjoyment of family and friends can reduce one’s chances of developing ADRD. Without substantial risk reduction efforts, a tremendous increase in the number of Americans with ADRD is predicted as the massive baby boomer generation ages.

Funded by the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, the Healthy Body, Healthy Brain Campaign will include a wide variety of activities to bring this message to Alaskans. The campaign will begin by surveying Alaskan adults to determine their level of knowledge of the effects of lifestyle elements on ADRD risk. A question will be added to the 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, longer surveys will be given to visitors to senior centers and public health centers statewide, and visitors to the Alaska Commission on Aging’s website can click on “Take the Healthy Brain Survey!” to submit a survey response. Surveys will be repeated near the end of the two-year project to help determine the effectiveness of the campaign.

Other efforts now underway include distribution of project bookmarks as well as Healthy Body, Healthy Brain posters to senior centers and public health centers. The posters have been produced in senior and boomer versions, with bus posters of both versions also scheduled to be sent to municipal bus companies statewide. A Healthy Body, Healthy Brain section of the ACoA’s website is under construction to help the public locate information on the latest ADRD research. Staff is developing radio and print ads as well as a curriculum for the presentation of short talks by public health nurses at senior centers and public health centers.

If funded, year two of the project would include small grants to community organizations who wish to implement innovative evidence-based programs to encourage healthy lifestyle choices by seniors and baby boomers.

This campaign funded by The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority . ACoA and the Alaska Division of Public Health are partners in bringing you information about this campaign.