The global population is aging faster than ever before. By 2040, more than 1 billion people will be over the age of 65.
For the first time in history, seniors are outnumbering children. Around the world, longer life expectancies, smaller family sizes and aging baby boomers are creating new and increasingly urgent challenges for caregivers, communities and governments. Researchers in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences are tackling some of the most pressing aging-related issues to improve quality of life for older adults today and refine health-care systems and policies for future generations.
Partnerships that drive innovation
Fueled by a common vision for a healthier future, our researchers are breaking down barriers and forging partnerships across disciplines and organizations:
- Through the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging, researchers are collaborating with clinicians and residents in long-term care homes to tangibly improve seniors’ quality of life. From exploring how reductions in blood pressure are related to dizziness and risk of falls to preventing falls and fractures with different flooring and implementing inter-professional care practices to reduce hospitalizations, a hands-on approach to collaboration is catalyzing discoveries and putting aging-related research into practice.
- When it comes to aging well, your financial health can be just as important as your physical health. With at least a third of Canada’s workforce eligible to retire over the next five years, our RBC Retirement Research Centre supports research that develops insights and ideas related to retirement planning, health and well-being.
- Committed to enhancing collaboration across our own university campus, Applied Health Sciences hosts the Network for Aging Research (NAR) — a group of researchers from varying disciplines dedicated to improving quality of life for older adults. To inspire cross-disciplinary research, NAR runs grant programs and networking events to mobilize new, highly focused, collaborative research initiatives in aging.
Improving food intake in long-term care
Many older adults living in long-term care homes have poor food intake, leading to malnutrition and frailty.
Professor Heather Keller is leading a pioneering study spanning 32 long-term care homes across Canada to understand why so many residents do not eat enough or the right types of food. Working in a state-of-the-art kitchen at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging, Professor Keller is also developing new nutrient-rich food combinations to make mealtime more appealing for residents and promote better health and well-being.
DEPARTMENT OF KINESIOLOGY
Using childhood to predict health in old age
Aging begins the moment we are born. Scientists have long thought that factors in childhood may set the stage for better brain functioning later in life.
Professor Suzanne Tyas is using 100 years’ worth of data from the Nun Study — an internationally recognized collection of data spanning the lifetimes of 678 nuns — to determine factors that impact a person’s ability to resist cognitive decline even though their brain may show Alzheimertype damage. Whether it’s educational experience, emotions or genes, identifying factors linked to improved brain functioning could enhance quality of life across the life course and reduce strains on health-care systems worldwide.
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH SYSTEMS
Changing the culture of dementia care
By 2031, more than 1.4 million Canadians will be living with dementia — the most feared disease after cancer. With public misconceptions and stigmas still widespread, people living with dementia are often treated differently by care staff, friends and even family.
Professor Sherry Dupuis, co-lead of the Partnerships in Dementia Care Alliance, is working to change the way we think about dementia using the arts. A new researchbased drama, Cracked: New Light on Dementia, raises questions about many of the dehumanizing practices that still prevail in care settings and inspires new ways of interacting with persons living with dementia for family members and staff.
DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION AND LEISURE STUDIES
