It’s common of having more than two cognitive and mental related health conditions at the same time, especially among older people, called multimorbidity. This project aims to understand why and how the human lifestyle and blood markers play a joint role in the progression of cognitive and mental related multimorbidity. While there are several previous studies, it remains unclear how physical activity may counteract the adverse effects of sedentary behavior and sleep patterns on cognitive and mental disorders, especially without focusing on multimorbidity. Over the course of three years, the project will analyze data from the UK Biobank, focusing on individuals over 50 with at least two diagnosed cognitive and mental disorders.
The findings could help inform the public about how the daily lifestyle choices may impact their brain and mental health, and hence help them understand what physical activities or habits might help improving cognitive and mental health such as memory loss and depression. Ultimately, the findings are important to help researchers and health professionals design and implement targeted interventions to improve public health and promote healthy ageing.