What do Mariachi bands, chair exercises and learning languages have in common? Healthy Brains Day 2019!
Celebrating the launch of the new look of HealthyBrains.org and its Spanish translation, the community of Las Vegas came together to help create a memorable and fun evening learning about brain health.
¡Bienvenido!
The festivities began with the joyful sounds of a Mariachi band greeting community guests while our mascot Captain Cortex swayed to the beat of the traditional Mexican music. Guests sampled appetizers inspired by cultures from around the world: Latin ceviche, Asian poke, Middle Eastern falafel, and African spiced beef pot pie, providing a delicious twist and taste on brain healthy nutrition.
Connecting to Community
As social interaction is a key pillar of brain health, guests picked random puzzle pieces with the aim of connecting their piece while meeting someone new. Many found their puzzlemates!
Local community organizations offering inexpensive ways to improve brain health such as OLLI at UNLV, Three Square Food Bank Senior Share Program, YMCA, COX Communications, Las Vegas Sleep Center, Vegas Roots and Yoga For Life, shared their knowledge and free resources.
Gratitude. Together We Can Do More.
Dr. Marwan Sabbagh kicked off the evening thanking our generous sponsors, Caesars Foundation, COX Communications, Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits, and Eureka Casino for their generosity in helping us bring brain health education to our Las Vegas community and to people around the world.
No Excuse Exercise.
Christy Ross from our Cleveland Clinic Nevada Physical Therapy team convinced the audience, there’s no excuse not to exercise with a fun demonstration of chair exercises. Marching, wide marching, flutter kicks, boxing, all while seated, proved to elevate heart rates and spur on a little laughter. Las Vegas City Councilman Cedric Crear, April LaLone from Senator Jacky Rosen’s office and Christian Bato from Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s office demonstrated their chair exercise prowess.
Wise Women Speak.
Six women representing the rich cultural diversity of our Southern Nevada community and a reminder that women are at the epicenter of the Alzheimer’s crisis, challenged the audience with a foreign language exercise. Learning words and phrases in 6 languages: Spanish, Tagalog, Hindi, Indian, Swahili and Mandarin Chinese proved to be a challenging and sometimes humorous tongue twisting exercise.
Wind Down and Relax.
Managing stress can make a big difference in the health of your brain. Research shows that regular meditation helps keep your brain happier.
Jacky Pagone, a yoga and meditation instructor, showed us how to use our minds and bodies to focus on the present and relax.
Our Search for Cures Includes You.
Everyone is a vital piece of the puzzle in the discovery of cures and treatments for dementia. Dr. Aaron Ritter, our Director of Clinical Research educated the audience how, so far, the majority of dementia research participants tend to represent only the same types of people and its our mission to ensure that our research represents and reflects the diversity of our entire community.
Thank You!
We honored our Community Advisory Board members from our Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Neuroscience (CNTN) Project who are helping us better understand the cultural barriers and sensitivities to participation in aging research.
How Healthy is Your Brain?
¿Qué tan saludable es su cerebro?
With the help of Caesars SMART HEROS volunteers, 120 guests assessed their lifestyle habits with a brain health check-up. Some in Spanish, too! We appreciate all the dedication and efforts of our community volunteers.
You, too, can celebrate HealthyBrains Day by reviewing the 6 Pillars of brain health and choosing a healthy habit to improve. Then, check your progress by going to HealthyBrains.org and re-checking your total Brain Health Index score.
