Exercise From Afar: Progressing At Risk Individuals to Independent Exercise

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of a technology-driven independent exercise program on health outcomes associated with dementia risk among underactive rural adults.

Underactive adults (n=50), ages 40-70 years, from federally designated rural and frontier Kansas counties will be recruited to participate in this study. Specific inclusionary and exclusionary criteria will be used to screen potential participants and determine eligibility. Following recruitment and screening, participants will complete baseline physical fitness and health assessments, supervised by the research team. Following completion of baseline assessments, a personal training/fitness app will be employed to design and deliver exercise programming and track exercise participation, adherence and progression over the course of the study. All prescribed exercise will follow national governing body recommendations and include specific exercises found in previous work to be beneficial for physical health and brain plasticity. The study team will record exercise instruction videos that can be accessed by all participants at any time throughout the study. The particular app used will allow the research team to organize exercise videos into structured training sessions, allowing participants to exercise on their own, at the location of their choice, with ample instruction. The app will also allow participants to record themselves performing various exercises and send them to the research team for analysis of technique and safety. Communication between study personnel and participants will be delivered via the app. Phone calls and/or Zoom sessions will be offered as an alternative if necessary. Our goal is to create a safe, effective means of delivering personalized exercise programming to rural adults that reduces barriers to exercise, improves physical fitness and biomarkers associated with dementia risk and lends itself to exercise adherence in a population that is at an increased risk for cognitive decline. Middle aged adults will be included in the study as they are at an age when successful behavior change is more probable (than older, institutionalized adults); older adults will be included as they are in the high-risk category for dementia. Following the exercise intervention, all baseline assessments will be repeated. Data will be compared to determine the impact of the exercise program on each variable (i.e. dementia risk biomarkers, QOL, physical fitness, etc.).