Dr Sophie Andrews’ research is addressing how exercise, diet and mental health impact dementia by using cutting-edge neuroscience techniques, like MRI, EEG and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS; a safe, non-invasive and painless way to stimulate the brain), to investigate the effects of lifestyle interventions on brain health.
For example, her research has shown that a bout of high intensity exercise can immediately give a boost to neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to adapt, change and learn), measured using TMS, and that healthy older adults with lower dementia risk due to healthy lifestyle have larger white matter tracts (the brain’s super-highways), measured using MRI.
Sophie’s research is also focused on understanding more about the neuroscience of how we form and change our habits, so that this can be used to design more effective interventions for dementia risk reduction.