Optimize Your Brain Health

by Women’s Brain Health Initiative:

NEW MOBILE APP HELPS YOU GET & STAY BRAIN FIT

As an integral component of the Mind Over Matter® campaign, Women's Brain Health Initiative (WBHI) has created a mobile application (or app) called “BrainFit™” – a unique habit tracker designed to help users prolong their cognitive vitality.

BRAINFIT™ IS THE ONLY APP OF ITS KIND TO FOCUS ON OPTIMIZING BRAIN HEALTH, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON EACH OF THE “SIX PILLARS OF BRAIN HEALTH," AND IS COMPLETELY FREE TO USE.

The six pillars are stress management, exercise, mental stimulation, social activity, nutrition, and sleep. Collectively, these pillars or lifestyle choices may give you the best opportunity to keep your brain functioning well.

BrainFit™ was created to give both women and men (including caregivers, health care professionals, service providers, and policymakers) a practical wellness tool that encourages them to make more of the right lifestyle choices that can safeguard and promote the health of their brain.

The app offers practical ways for users to reduce their dementia risk, build healthy habits, and track their progress as they strive to optimize and protect their brain health. Small habit changes can have a significant cumulative effect.

BRAINFIT™ PROVIDES USERS WITH TIMELY AND SUBSTANTIATED INFORMATION TO FOSTER BRAIN-HEALTHY HABITS TO GET AND STAY BRAIN FIT, ALONG WITH HELPFUL WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT.

The app is both personalized and customizable, and leverages the latest research findings from leading experts in brain science and medicine, habit formation and behaviour change, app design, and user experience.

The app also includes access to the new Mind Over Matter® videos and podcast series and has an extensive “Explore” section focused on empirical evidence and education. The app was engineered by BitBakery Software, a Waterloo, Ontario development company led by CEO Wes Worsfold.

Developing the app aligns with two of their core values: promoting health and wellness and using technology to improve people's lives. “BrainFit™ helps users to create and develop habits for better brain health and aligns with BitBakery's values of using technology for good."

Daniel Crystal, a UX Manager at Shopify, worked closely with the BitBakery team to enhance the app's usability. "For widespread adoption, the app's user interface must be simple to use. We believe that the more accessible the design, the more people will be inspired to develop and maintain brain-healthy habits."

“Thanks to our partners and those who developed this exciting app, BrainFit™ has the potential to reach many people across Canada and beyond, and to truly be transformative in helping users prevent or delay dementia,” said WBHI President and CEO Lynn Posluns.

Researchers in the Faculty of Health at York University are evaluating the efficacy of the app, led by Dr. Lora Appel, an Assistant Professor of Health Informatics and a Collaborating Scientist at University Health Network, where she heads the Prescribing Virtual Reality (VRx) lab, which designs and conducts studies that introduce and evaluate virtual reality therapeutic interventions for patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers in different settings.

“I saw a great potential in collaborating with WBHI to move their successful magazine content into the digital realm,” said Dr. Appel. “Most mobile apps related to dementia either provide tools for planning and communicating among family and caregivers or target cognitive stimulation that we now know can help mitigate some of the effects of cognitive decline. However, BrainFit™ differentiates itself in several ways.”

“With its focus on women, the app sheds light on how sex and gender roles influence the prevalence, progression, and treatment of this condition,” Dr. Appel continued. “BrainFit™ also takes a more comprehensive approach targeting behaviours across multiple aspects of lifestyle and provides practical bite-size tips that are easy to implement and introduce into our everyday routines. For example, if you make fruits visible on your kitchen counter, then you're more likely to pick one up and eat it. We can all use some help identifying this ‘low-hanging fruit’!”

WHEN IT COMES TO MANAGING YOUR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH, THE BEST WAY TO STAY FIT AND MAINTAIN YOUR HEALTH AND INDEPENDENCE IS TO ADOPT GOOD HABITS EARLY. WBHI’S GOAL IS TO HAVE BRAINFIT™ HELP USERS DO JUST THAT.

Feedback at any time is always welcome. Users are encouraged to provide their opinions and suggestions on improving the app. Content in the app is updated frequently based on user experience and new research findings.

“BrainFit™ helps you develop brain-healthy habits and supports you to integrate those habits into your busy life with suggested behaviours, practical tips, gentle prompts, and lots of encouragement. There are no hidden costs to sign up, gain access to app features, track your achievements, or see the best content,” Posluns added.

Available for both iPhone and Android, BrainFit™-Free Habit Tracker launches this December in the app store.

BrainFit™ Features

·       Completely private and confidential (no identifying personal data is collected, stored, shared, or used)

·       Educates users on how to protect their brain health

·       Helps users build brain-healthy habits

·       Tracks habits to help users monitor their progress

·       Encourages users to stay on track to reach their goals

·       Includes articles on the latest scientific evidence, as well as countless tips for maintaining brain-healthy habits

·       Provides personal challenges and a curated
collection of healthy habits

·       Offers cues and rewards for healthy habit formation

·       Available for smartphone or tablet, and for iPhone and Android

BrainFit™ Advantages

·       Guides users to help form healthy habits based on each of the “six pillars of brain health”

·       Completely free to use, with no hidden content behind a paywall

·       Customizable, flexible, and accessible

·       Content is continually updated based on the latest research findings

·       Designed with the input of diverse participants

·       App efficacy evaluated by a leading research team

This initiative has been made possible through a financial contribution from the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

BrainFit™ was made possible with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and with support from York University, BitBakery, The Citrine Foundation of Canada, TELUS, RBC, Home Instead, and RB33.