Healthy Aging Research Seminar | June 21

With one new case of dementia detected every 3 seconds, and no effective pharmaceutical cure yet available, we urgently need to identify lifestyle strategies which can reduce dementia risk. Physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep are three behaviours which we all engage in daily and make up most of our 24-hour day (hence, the 24-hour activity cycle). Each of these behaviours are independently associated with cognitive health. However, most research has treated these behaviours as isolated with very little consideration for how people live each day (e.g., poor sleep likely impacts physical activity and vice versa). This seminar will discuss the growing evidence surrounding how the 24-hour activity cycle shares an interactive relationship with older adult cognitive health, practical applications of our current knowledge for clinical populations, and the meaning of life (the answer is of course 42).

Dr. Ryan Stanley Falck is a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia – Vancouver. As a Michael Smith Health Research BC postdoctoral fellow trainee, his research examines how the 24-hour activity cycle (i.e., physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep) impacts cognitive health and risk for dementia. His research also examines how different lifestyle factors (e.g., exercise training, pet ownership, etc.) can impact physical, mental, and cognitive health. He uses a combination of 1) innovative methodologies for observing physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep; 2) state-of-the-art structural and functional neuroimaging analyses for exploring the effects of these behaviours on brain health; and 3) novel analytic approaches (e.g., artificial intelligence and machine learning) for exploring how physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep are related to cognitive health. Outside of work, he can usually be found running with his dog Buddy.