Sport and Exercise for Brain Health (FutureLearn)

Sport and Exercise for Brain Health (FutureLearn)

Expand your knowledge of the benefits of lifelong physical activity for maintaining brain health and reducing disease risk. Explore the benefits of sport and exercise for building good brain health. Preventing poor brain health and dementia is an increasingly important public health issue, and has received more and more attention in global sport and media in recent years. This two-week course from Brain Health Scotland and collaborators will provide you with novel insight and the latest science around brain health, the known risk factors that can affect it across the course of life, and how to reduce these risks.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see FutureLearn's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Explore the impact of exercise in reducing the risk of disease and boosting brain health
Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for dementia, and it has been shown that exercise itself can help to prevent or manage many risk factors for dementia.
On this course, you’ll explore the link between exercise and brain health with expertise from a former Olympian and professional athlete, physiotherapists, and top researchers and clinicians in the field to understand how physical activity is a key pillar of health and wellbeing globally.

Discover practical strategies used by athletes to maintain brain health
Athletes and professionals in the field of sport have a growing understanding of brain health and its risk factors.
You’ll have the unique opportunity to gain insight on brain health from a former Olympian and professional athlete. Through their experience, you’ll learn about some of the challenges athletes can face, and discover strategies for supporting brain health.

Become an advocate for brain health in your own communities
Although brain health has become more topical, misinformation on the subject is not uncommon, and there is a lack of strong evidence-based resources in place to guide individuals.
With the guidance and support of your expert educators, you’ll expand your knowledge and be empowered to spread awareness and advocate for good brain health.

Syllabus

Week 1: Brain Health for All
Week 2: Brain Health Meets Sport & Exercise

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Describe what brain health is and what the risk factors are for poor brain health
  • Discuss benefits of sport, exercise, and physical activity (PA) on brain health, with a focus on specific areas or challenges relevant to athletes and their support networks
  • Apply practical strategies for optimising brain health using evidence from sport and exercise
  • Advocate for your own brain health, and that of others, seeing sport, exercise and physical activity (PA) as a critical tool
Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Understanding Anxiety, Depression and CBT (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Reading

Understanding Anxiety, Depression and CBT (FutureLearn)

Improve your understanding of depression and anxiety and find out more about an effective and evidence-based treatment: CBT. Anxiety and depression are terms discussed widely, in different media and amongst family and friends. But what do those labels actually mean? On this five week course, from the University of Reading, you will explore what it means to have anxiety or depression and how they are identified.

Self Paced
5-12 Weeks
Causes of Human Disease: Understanding Causes of Disease (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Causes of Human Disease: Understanding Causes of Disease (FutureLearn)

Learn the epidemiological methods used to understand the causes of diseases and how social factors influence their development. What causes human disease? Why do some people get a disease but others don’t? Through this course, you’ll learn how epidemiologists are helping to find answers to these complex questions and how the health of a population is measured and analysed.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Understanding Autism (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Kent

Understanding Autism (FutureLearn)

Understand more about autism, including diagnosis, the autistic spectrum and life with autism, with this online course. First identified over 70 years ago, autism is a lifelong developmental disability affecting how a person communicates with and relates to others, and how they make sense of the world. It is a spectrum condition; all people on the spectrum share certain difficulties, but their condition will affect them in different ways.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Causes of Human Disease: Exploring Cancer and Genetic Disease (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Causes of Human Disease: Exploring Cancer and Genetic Disease (FutureLearn)

Explore how the unravelling of genetic code has led to a deeper understanding of genetic diseases and cancer. It’s widely known that some diseases run in families. The discovery of the structure of DNA and the unravelling of the genetic code has led to a deeper understanding of such diseases. We now know more about the genetic basis of cancer and how cancer cells are formed and reproduce. On this course you’ll explore the structure of DNA, its processes and learn how genetic disease results from DNA alterations.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Why Do We Age? The Molecular Mechanisms of Ageing (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Groningen,University Medical Center Groningen - UMCG

Why Do We Age? The Molecular Mechanisms of Ageing (FutureLearn)

Why do we age? Is there a limit to human lifespan? Can we prolong our lives? Find out with this free online course. Discover the science behind the ageing process. The “why” and “how” of ageing has puzzled mankind ever since it questioned its place in the universe.

Self Paced
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Health Technology Assessment (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Glasgow

Introduction to Health Technology Assessment (FutureLearn)

Learn about health technology assessment (HTA) and quality of life (QoL), and how they’re used to decide which treatments to fund. Get an introduction to health technology assessment (HTA). This online course provides a short, interactive introduction to health technology assessment (HTA), based on the University of Glasgow’s successful online distance-learning programme, the MSc in HTA.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Dysphagia: Swallowing Difficulties and Medicines (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of East Anglia

Dysphagia: Swallowing Difficulties and Medicines (FutureLearn)

This course will enhance the knowledge of any person involved in the administration of medicines to patients with dysphagia. The course offers an opportunity to network with other learners and with the creators of the course through discussions, graphs and social networking features and to share knowledge with other learners and professionals.

Self Paced
5-12 Weeks
Quality Improvement in Healthcare: the Case for Change (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Bath

Quality Improvement in Healthcare: the Case for Change (FutureLearn)

Explore new and better ways of organising health and social care services, to improve quality, with this free online course. Why is quality improvement in health and social care systems so difficult? Why is it so challenging to bring in new and better ways of organising health and social care services? Many reasons have been put forward: lack of money; lack of knowledge about either the actual quality of care delivered, or resistance to making changes to long-established ways of working; excessive and sometimes misunderstood regulations; and professional opinions and interests that are hard to influence when systems are working at or beyond capacity.

Self Paced
5-12 Weeks
Understanding Insulin (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Southampton

Understanding Insulin (FutureLearn)

Learn more about all things insulin: from how it works, to insulin types, to side effects and guidance on how to prescribe safely. The current spend on diabetes care by the NHS is estimated to be £1.6 million pounds per hour. 80% of this is spent on managing diabetes complications, the risk of which can be significantly reduced through effective blood glucose control using insulin.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Improving Health Assessments for People with an Intellectual Disability (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Trinity College Dublin,EIT Health

Improving Health Assessments for People with an Intellectual Disability (FutureLearn)

Learn how to improve healthcare for people with intellectual disabilities with this course for healthcare professionals. Detecting poor health and supporting people with an intellectual disability in managing their health can be challenging for healthcare professionals. During this course, you will gain valuable knowledge that you can transfer into your daily practice on how to include people with an intellectual disability in health assessments.

Self Paced
3 Weeks