Can you give us an update on the Lifebrain survey study? How are things?
Nanna (in Oslo): It is going very well! More than 27,000 people from all over the world have completed our international Lifebrain survey. From Norway to India and from the Netherlands to South Africa – that is absolutely fantastic! Their responses will give us a lot of insight into how people think about brain health.
Laura (in Amsterdam): Indeed! Over than 7,000 people from the Netherlands participated; almost all via the participant recruitment organization Hersenonderzoek.nl. So to all readers of this interview… If you are one of the participants: thank you very much! With your help we’ll learn more about how people think about brain health and how we can help and respond to what people need to keep their brains fit.
Can you give us some insight into the preliminary findings?
Nanna: Well, it is actually a little too early to really say anything about the actual results since we are still busy analyzing the data.
Laura: We can share that the Dutch seem to answer some questions slightly different than people from other parts of the world. For example, it looks like the Dutch view diet and social interaction as less important factors of influence compared to people from other countries others.
That is interesting to discover, because diet and social interaction actually do seem to have an effect on our brains. These are factors that you can control yourself, maybe even with help of the government. So maybe our future policy advice recommendations could focus more on diet and social activities in Dutch government campaigns, because there would still be a lot to gain in that area.
What are the next steps for Lifebrain?
Nanna: We have received a lot of interest in the survey, the topic as a whole and the results! First, we will dive deeper into the data we have gathered. We are aslo working with other countries that would like to distribute the survey in the future too. Just recently, for example, the survey was launched in the Emirates in Arabic.
Laura: Yes! Based on all this data, we will be writing recommendations for policymakers in the various participating countries, so that we can keep our brains as healthy as possible worldwide. So thanks again to all participants! Your participation is very valuable!
This article is based on an article published on Hersenonderzoek.nl.
