On Thursday, November 17th, Dr. John Muñoz, Chief Science Officer at J&F Alliance Group and Adjunct Professor at the University of Waterloo, was interviewed by Angela Liu on Rogers TV to showcase Seas the Day a virtual reality game that promotes physical activity and healthy living for people living with dementia and other cognitive impairments. Seas the Day, created by PhD candidate Samira Mehrabi (Health Sciences) and Muñoz, allows participants to take part in virtual activities such as Tai Chi, rowing, and fishing to promote upper limb strength, flexibility and cardiorespiratory fitness.
Seas the Day was created in partnership with an interdisciplinary team of faculty and graduate co-researchers as well as Reality Well (VR Vision), Schlegel Villages age-friendly community, and The Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA).
In the future, Muñoz hopes to continue collaborating with healthcare professionals to design more games that assist those living with illness and impairments. He plans to use the data from these gaming experiences to better understand physical and cognitive decline in aging people.