FilAus President Len Villanueva welcomed everyone with a prayer while VP Barbara Price reiterated proudly that FilAus is not just a social club but a non-profit organisation enriching Filipino cultural heritage, promoting social connections and positivity while also offering inclusive services to spread awareness on health and wellbeing programs that support graceful and meaningful ageing.
What a beautiful day on April 26 at the Mentone Activity Hub where the Filipino Australian Association Inc. (FilAus) officers and members gathered for its weekly get-together and monthly birthday celebrations, this time including FilAus Treasurer Aida Santos who just turned 80 and Fe Ragni with husband Tony congratulated for their 50th wedding anniversary, among other celebrants.
Reflecting this on April 26, FilAus seniors benefitted from an information session facilitated by Austin Health Senior Research Fellow at Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Dr Jessica Manousakis. The presentation focused on Project HERA (Health and Environmental Factors for Resilient Ageing), a research initiative aimed at understanding how to maintain cognitive function and reduce Alzheimer’s disease risk while ageing.
The project underscored the role of slow-wave sleep (deep sleep) in helping the brain and body clear out neurotoxins while investigating how lifestyle and environmental factors affect this process. It helps understand what factors make someone respond better to sleep enhancement, and how we can use sleep to promote resilient ageing. Dr Manousakis also explained how exercise improves sleep and memory and outlined ways on how to improve sleep from waking up, during the day, late afternoon, before going to bed and after lights out.
What is involved in Project HERA? Phase 1 will focus on questionnaires and health screening. Phase 2 involves a two-week intervention at home with sleep enhancement and two daytime laboratory cognitive testing. Phase 3 will focus on one week of at-home monitoring using an EEG device to measure chemical clearance during deep sleep and Phase 4 will involve a MR-PET Brain Scan to measure brain toxin and volume level.
Who may be eligible? You may join the research if you are aged 60-75, are a healthy regular sleeper, have no diagnosed sleep disorders, have no diagnosed cardiovascular disorders and those who have no mood disorders. One great news, participants receive up to $1,000 in medical and travel reimbursements.
For anyone interested in Project HERA, enquire via project.hera@austin.org.au or contact FilAus President Len Villanueva, VP Barbara Price and PRO Madel Alba on filaus21@gmail.com.
