TO SHINE a spotlight on how dementia affects the Great Lakes region, three council leaders will take up the Alzheimer’s Australia 21-day challenge to show people why your brain matters.
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An Alzheimer’s Australia report shows that the Great Lakes Local Government Area has the highest incidence of dementia in NSW.
By 2050, diagnoses of dementia are expected to increase by 368 per cent in the region.
To raise awareness of dementia, and at the same time reduce their own risk of getting it, councillor Leigh Vaughan, general manager Glenn Handford and director of corporate and community services Steve Embry have taken up the 21-day Your Brain Matters challenge.
‘‘Alzheimer’s Australia came to talk to us, and the statistics are frightening,’’ Cr Vaughn said.
‘‘I’m doing this [challenge] to raise awareness of the prevalence of the disease, but I’m also helping myself by keeping my brain healthy.
The challenge aims to maximise participants’ brain health by asking them to do five key things: look after their heart, undertake physical activity, mentally challenge themselves, follow a healthy diet and enjoy social activities.
To achieve this, Cr Vaughn has chosen to learn new fingering patterns on her cello.
Mr Handford, a keen chess player, will challenge himself to study from the grand masters, and Mr Embry, a passionate guitarist, has chosen music for his challenge.
‘‘Mastering a complex piece of music is not easy,’’ he said.
‘‘My challenge is to commit to practising a complex piece of music every day for an hour.’’
Mr Embry said Alzheimer’s Australia’s statistics were ‘‘quite worrying’’.
‘‘I think anything we can do to avoid this disease is worth a try,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s good to be taken out of our comfort zone.’’