ENGAGE for Brain Health

Safety will be measured by the number of adverse events and serious adverse events. The investigators will compare the rates of adverse events and serious adverse events between the physical activity and healthy aging education intervention randomized arms.

Feasibility will be measured by adherence to PA by percent attendance. Successful adherence will be defined by an attendance rate of >60%.

We will utilize Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to non-invasively evaluate the brain hemodynamics of participants during a single bout of moderate intensity submaximal cycling exercise.

Regular activity level will be measured using accelerometry (GT3X+, Actigraph, Pensacola, FL). The actigraph, attached to an elastic belt, will be worn around the waist of the participant. These accelerometers are small enough to be unobtrusive and produce little interference with normal physical activity. Participants will be instructed to wear the actigraph for a 7-day period during waking hours and remove it for sleep and bathing only. Activity will be recorded using 1-second epochs.

The 6MWT tests functional exercise capacity by measuring the distance a participant can walk within a 6 minute time period. The 6MWT is a beneficial tool in assessing functional exercise capacity in older adults. The 6MWT will be performed in a corridor of the Holland Street Senior Center in Somerville, MA on a 40 meter course. Participants will be instructed to walk as far as they can in six minutes without running or jogging. Cones will be set up at each turnaround point of the course and participants will be instructed to complete as many laps as they can without overexerting themselves. The test will be stopped if any of the following symptoms occur: chest pain, severe dyspnea, muscle cramping, diaphoresis, or any other symptom the investigator deems unsafe. Subjects' walking distance will be recorded.

Hand grip strength will be measured in the dominant hand with a Jamar Handheld Dynamometer (Patterson Medical, Warrenville, IL). The participants will perform the test while sitting comfortably with shoulder adducted and neutrally rotated, the elbow supported on a table and flexed to 90 degrees, forearm and wrist in neutral position. The patients will be instructed to perform a maximal isometric contraction. The test will be repeated after 10 sec. and the highest value will be recorded.

During the CWTs, subjects will first be asked to walk on an even surface for 7 meters, as fast as possible while remaining safe. Subjects will be then asked to repeat the walk in their usual pace at the same time as subtracting 3 from 50 and keep subtracting until the 7 meters walk is completed. Subjects' complex walking speed will be timed with a stopwatch and each subtraction will be recorded.

The self-administered version of the Quality of Well-Being Scale will be used to assess general quality of life. This instrument provides a comprehensive measure of health-related quality of life that assesses health symptoms and functioning. This scale has 6 parts. Part 1: acute and chronic symptoms, part 2: self care, part 3: mobility, part 4: physical activity, part 5: usual activity, part 6: general health. There are 79 questions total. Each question is uses the scale: have you... in the past 0 days, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days. There is no scoring or total scoring mechanism. Outcome depends on the question being asked. For example, if a participant reports no hospital visits in the past 3 days that is considered better than reporting no hospital visits in the past 1 day.

The Falls Efficacy Scale-International is a questionnaire that evaluates the fear of falling among community dwelling older adults. This questionnaire will be administered at baseline and 24 weeks.

Participants will be asked about any recent falls they have experienced at each assessment visit.