What is BrainyApp?
BrainyApp is a mobile app that allows you to assess your brain-heart health. BrainyApp will also help you to work enjoyable brain and heart healthy activities into your routine, and track your brain-heart health over time.
Can BrainyApp be used on any device?
Currently, BrainyApp is only available for users of Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad devices. We are looking at developing an Android version in early 2012. BrainyApp is based on Alzheimer’s Australia's Mind your Mind program which is freely available online.
Is BrainyApp free?
Yes!
Who is BrainyApp for?
BrainyApp is for people who want to be brain-heart healthy, and find out what they can do that could help reduce their risk of developing dementia. It’s aimed at adults, as midlife is the time when brain-heart healthy activities probably have most impact on the risk of dementia later on.
Is it the same as brain training?
No. Brain training (the kinds of ‘brain games’ available online, on handheld computing devices, and on other apps), is only one part of the story as far as reducing the risk of dementia goes. To minimise your chances of developing the disease, you also need to look after your body, and engage in a range of healthy, active, and stimulating activities.
Having said that, there are two fantastic brain training games in BrainyApp.
Why should I use BrainyApp?
There are currently over 250,000 Australians with dementia, and this rate will rise to 1million by mid-century. Dementia is a terminal disease and is set to become the chronic disease of the 21st Century. There is currently no cure. The risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia increases with age, however the disease can strike as early as the 30s. Although you can’t eliminate the risk of developing dementia altogether, there are a things you can do to reduce your risk. BrainyApp helps you to learn about these, and to do them too.
What does BrainyApp do?
BrainyApp lets you assess your brain-heart health, tells you the areas that you should focus on, suggests activities you might do, and lets you track and monitor how these activities contribute to your brain-heart health. You can learn new facts about dementia and the brain, play challenging ‘brain training’ games, and share your progress with friends on Facebook. For details see What can I do with BrainyApp?
How does BrainyApp work?
BrainyApp has collated all the available scientific evidence to develop a points system for the risk and protective factors for dementia that we can do something about. Your responses to the Brain Health survey determine your initial brain-heart health score. The challenge is then to take up the recommendations, and log your healthy brain and heart activities to boost your score.
What is brain-heart health?
Everyone knows that they should look after their health to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. What most people don’t realise is that the same things that lead to a healthy heart also lead to a healthy brain. Why so? The brain is just an organ of the body after all, so good nutrition and blood flow are essential to keep it in optimal condition. Exercise promotes brain function, and regular brain ‘exercise’ (thinking hard basically) is needed to increase brain ‘fitness’. A brain that is kept ‘fit’ over a lifetime will have more connections than an ‘un-fit’ brain, and it’s thought that these extra connections can help to protect against brain damage caused by illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease. A healthy body reduces the risk of heart disease, and a healthy brain and body reduce the risk of dementia. So get Brain-Heart healthy today!
Why did Alzheimer's Australia develop BrainyApp?
Dementia is an epidemic that Alzheimer’s Australia is committed to fighting. Dementia is terminal, and there is no cure. So the best way to try and reduce future numbers of people living with the disease is to encourage everyone to take simple lifestyle measures that might help to reduce their risk of developing dementia. Alzheimer’s Australia is also concerned that so few people know about the link between brain health and heart health. Hence, BrainyApp was developed as part of our ongoing dementia risk reduction program, Mind your Mind.
Will there be updates for BrainyApp?
Yes, and these will be free. Please send us your comments and suggestions by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Alzheimer's disease or dementia? What's the difference?
Dementia is the umbrella term for the symptoms (memory loss, confusion, changed mood, behaviour, etc) and Alzheimer’s disease is the most common illness that causes them. However, there are over 100 others illnesses that can lead to dementia symptoms.
What about people who already have dementia?
The earlier the better for risk reduction, but people with mild dementia symptoms can also benefit from the kinds of activities recommended by BrainyApp.
What are the biggest risk factors for dementia?
Old age
Lack of mental stimulation/activity
High saturated fat diet
Physical inactivity
Untreated high blood pressure
Untreated high blood cholesterol
Untreated diabetes
Being obese
Low levels of social activity
Smoking
Serious head injury
What is the Mind your Mind program?
BrainyApp is based on Mind your Mind, Alzheimer’s Australia’s dementia risk reduction program. Mind your Mind is designed to help people reduce their risk of developing dementia. The seven signposts to dementia risk reduction are:
Mind your Brain
Mind your Diet
Mind your Body
Mind your Health Checks
Mind your Social Life
Mind your Habits
Mind your Head
Although there are no guarantees that following the Mind your Mind signposts will prevent you from developing dementia, it may help to reduce your risk, or delay the onset of dementia.
What evidence is there that these things will help?
The leading Australian experts in this area were consulted, and contributed to the development of BrainyApp to ensure that it is based on the very latest scientific evidence around risk and protective factors for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. While there are still a lot of unanswered questions, and the evidence for some of the activities (for example, reducing hypertension), is stronger than for others, all of the activities recommended by BrainyApp have at least some scientific evidence to support them. The current evidence is explained on the Mind your Mind website.
Someone I know did all these things and still got dementia. Why?
Unfortunately, there’s no guaranteed way to eliminate the risk of any disease completely. Some non-smokers still get lung cancer, while some heavy smokers don’t. Some people who live healthy, social, active and mentally challenging lives develop dementia, and some who do none of these things avoid dementia completely. There’s no way to eliminate the risk of dementia altogether, but a life-long pursuit of the kinds of activities recommended in BrainyApp will definitely help to reduce the risk.
Will BrainyApp help reduce the risk of other diseases as well as dementia?
Yes. Brain health and heart health are linked. A commitment to a healthy and active lifestyle of the kind recommended by BrainyApp will reduce the risk of dementia as well as heart disease, stroke, some cancers, diabetes, depression and other mental health problems. In fact, the activities recommended by BrainyApp are relevant to, and may reduce the risk or impact of every single ‘lifestyle-related’ illness or disease.
Is BrainyApp relevant for all forms of dementia?
Yes. Although most of the research has focussed on Alzheimer’s disease (the most common form of dementia), the evidence and theory suggests that brain-heart health is related to a reduced risk of all forms of dementia.
Who is Alzheimer's Australia?
Alzheimer’s Australia is the charity providing support and advocacy for the 269,000 people living with dementia, and the 1.2 million Australians who provide them with support and care. There are Alzheimer’s Australia organisations in each state and territory. Visit fightdementia.org.au, or call the National Dementia Helpline 1800 100 500.
Who is the Bupa Health Foundation?
The Bupa Health Foundation helps build a healthier Australian community through its support of important health research, health education and other healthy living programs. Established as a charitable foundation in 2005, the Bupa Health Foundation has partnered in over 60 initiatives nationally, with a combined investment of around $17 million across its key focus areas: promoting wellness, managing chronic disease, healthy ageing, and empowering people about their health.
