Een gezonder brein met de Brain Aging Monitor

Rationale:

Cognitive decline is already measurable in people aged 45-49. So it becomes increasingly important and necessary to come up with scientifically validated ways in which we enable and train people how they can maintain normal levels of cognitive functioning for a longer period of time.



Objective:

The main objective of the Brain Aging Monitor study is to examine whether a two year online health-behavior change intervention can influence brain aging patterns in a population 40 years and older.



Intervention:

The Brain Aging Monitor (BAM) is a two year online, individually tailored lifestyle intervention. Aiming for six pillars of lifestyle change for which the literature suggests that these effect cognitive functioning. These pillars are physical activity, nutrition, smoking, alcohol consumption, sleep, and stress.
In order to measure cognitive functioning online we developed a new online self monitor for cognitive functioning called the Brain Aging Monitor Cognitive Assessment Battery (BAM-COG), which has been validated in a healthy aging population.
The BAM first screens and compares current lifestyle to references that have been published by governmental institutions for public health in terms of physical activity norms, healthy diets, smoking recommendations, alcohol consumption, sleep patterns, and stress coping. After which the BAM will measure cognition with the BAM-COG.
Based on these measurements participants will set themselves up in a goal setting module (using Goal Attainment Scaling) where they are guided to set their own realistic goals aiming for behavior change on those lifestyle pillars that they want to change.
Once the goals have been set the participant will be provided with several tool and tips on how to accomplish his goals. Participants are able to set their own reminder system on how frequently they want to be reminded about taking part in the program. To monitor progress a visually attractive way of presenting progress is used.
The site is updated with the latest scientific information and breakthroughs on the subject of brain research, healthy living, and the psychology of behavior change. Furthermore, there are blogs by the researchers and participants, and healthy recipes are uploaded weekly.
At 12 and 24 months into the program the baseline measurement will be performed again to track lifestyle changes and cognition changes both halfway and at the end of the program.

Primary outcome measure:

The primary outcome measure is the Brain Aging Monitor Cognitive Assessment Battery.

The main objective of the Brain Aging Monitor study is to examine whether a two year online health-behavior change intervention can influence brain aging patterns in a population 40 years and older. Our hypotheses is that successful lifestyle change will result in different brain aging patterns.



To test the hypotheses participants that succesfully alter their behavior will be compared to unsuccesful participants on brain aging patterns.

01-10-2012

01-10-2013

01-10-2014

The Brain Aging Monitor website provides participants with an overview of current lifestyle, and stimulates healthy behavior change over time in a feasible and structured manner.