Exercise for the mind

With the Canadian population expected to include seven million seniors by 2021, there is an urgent need to develop better treatments for the challenges older adults face.

Over the past seven years, CAMH’s Geriatric Psychiatry Division has grown substantially to meet that need, with a four-fold increase in the number of physicians and a more than 50-fold increase in external research funding nearing $15 million in 2014.

Thanks to unprecedented support of almost $10 million over five years, CAMH is leading an exciting study that combines a painless brain stimulation treatment with memory and problem solving exercises in older adults. It is the largest-ever grant for Alzheimer’s disease prevention in Canada.

"We’re intervening at an earlier stage among people who do not have Alzheimer’s dementia but are at high risk of developing it," says Dr. Benoit Mulsant, lead investigator of the study and a Campbell Institute scientist.

The PACt-MD study combines transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) with cognitive remediation—activities aimed at improving brain function in daily tasks. The study is generously supported by the Brain Canada Foundation and the Chagnon Family, and could lead to treatments for people before Alzheimer’s disease can damage the brain.

In our new Brain Gym, CAMH is helping older adults exercise their brains. Housed in the Intergenerational Wellness Centre’s Azniv Lochan Group Room, the tech-savvy space provides touch-screen tablets loaded with cognitive games proven to improve memory and executive function. The Brain Gym was created through gifts in the name of Mary Sparrer, who lived with Alzheimer’s disease.