For Australians, dementia ranks first among all causes of death for women and is the second-leading cause of death overall. Professor Nicola Lautenschlager, Professor of Psychiatry of Old Age and Director of the Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age, notes that non-medical approaches to enhancing brain health, lowering the risk of dementia, supporting cognition, and assisting with depression, anxiety, and stress are not widely known (AUPOA).

A single strategy simply won't work when it comes to ageing, whether it be for clinical expertise, education, or research, according to Professor Lautenschlager. We are dedicated to slowing the spread of dementia.

The Elderly Mental Health Program at Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), which employs a multidisciplinary approach, is closely partnered with Professor Lautenschlager and her research team. Visit Thesis Help

To approach such a complicated topic from a variety of perspectives, it takes a variety of backgrounds, including those from psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists, exercise physiologists, social workers, and other clinical and non-clinical specialists. There is shared leadership and vision. According to Professor Lautenschlager.

The research team led by Professor Lautenschlager was awarded funding in 2019 to create national guidelines to inform older Australians in the 50+ age group who are concerned about their cognition about the type of physical activity required to support not only physical fitness and fall prevention but also brain and mental health.

These recommendations served as the inspiration for The EXCEL Study, a project designed to assist middle-aged to older individuals in improving their physical activity in order to enhance both their mental and physical health.

Professor Lautenschlager and her team had financing from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and were prepared to put the recommendations into practise when the pandemic struck, derailing their preparations.

We revamped the programme with consent from MRFF and changed the programme to an online format since we were aware that people's mental health was significantly declining as a result of the isolation brought on by ongoing lockdowns.

Fifty-five participants took part in the initiative - 87 per cent were Victorians - from the protection of their home via tele-video contact. Several subjects had admitted to having memory loss, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Participants received supplies and finished a 12-week home-based physical exercise programme that was remotely provided online and supported by frequent virtual meetings with members of the research team.

The intervention was quite effective, and participants expressed great happiness. The programme proved successful in assisting middle-aged and older persons with mental and cognitive difficulties to maintain or raise their physical activity levels across the areas of aerobic, strength, and balance, according to early data analysis.

These results give a robust foundation for modifying methods in clinical care of older persons with mental and cognitive health issues. A special platform for implementing the lessons from EXCEL in clinical settings is made possible by the strong cooperation between University researchers and RMH doctors.

The next phase of this research will examine whether certain EXCEL-based principles can be automated with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI) in order to reach more Australians, for instance by providing web-based physical activity programmes for middle-aged and older adults with mild to moderate anxiety.