Sarah Duff, Service Manager, Alzheimer Scotland
I have worked for Alzheimer Scotland as Service Manager for the South Aberdeenshire Service for 20 years. In that time, as a practitioner working in dementia care I have become interested in the positive impact that physical exercise can have on people with dementia.
The benefits of physical activity for the health of the body and heart are well known, however there is increasing evidence that physical activity also has a significant positive impact on brain health. People who do regular physical exercise on average have healthier brains, better memory, more efficient planning and other thinking skills. (Brown BM, Peiffer JJ, Martins RN)
The South Aberdeenshire Service has introduced various physical activity groups for our service users with dementia over the last ten years. We have walking groups, Nordic Walking groups, exercise classes and yoga groups. Groups such as these, sit comfortably within the 8 pillars model of Community Support (Alzheimer Scotland 2012) which is very much the driving force of how we shape dementia care.
Specifically, I want to investigate the effect of yoga practice on people with dementia and whether this can encourage calm, and how long these effects can last for.
E-mail: sduff@alzscot.org