About

Many factors can influence aging and brain health.  “Staying sharp” or maintaining a healthy brain that can perform all mental processes (memory and thinking) is important for quality of life and independence as we age.  Doctors recommend that we should watch what we eat, exercise a couple of times a week, pay attention to our stress levels, spend time in social and physical activities, and get a good night’s sleep. These lifestyle choices affect our overall health and could be especially important for successful brain aging.

Building on earlier work of LifeSpan Human Connectome Project in Aging (HCP-A) investigators and the significant efforts of HCP-A volunteers, the National Institute of Health (NIH) funded Aging Adult Brain Connectome (AABC) follows adults 36 years of age and older to better understand how different parts of the brain are connected to each other, and how those connections change as we age. A key aim of AABC is to ensure a racial and ethnically diverse participant group so that the findings will be applicable to people of many backgrounds.

Brain health and connections are measured using memory and thinking tests, surveys, research blood collection, specialty measure of sleep, activity, and hot flash symptoms (in females <60), and brain imaging (magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Volunteers complete in-person/imaging visits at entry into the study (baseline) and again in two (2) years. The AABC team will contact volunteers by email and/or phone in the interim years to remotely complete a small subset of surveys.

Participating institutions