The Big Brain Tour
The 2026 Strathaven Balloon Festival took place on the last weekend of August 2026, and with it, came an opportunity to bring the Big Brain Tour to Glasgow. The Big Brain Tour is a community engagement initiative from Brain Health Scotland which promotes brain health and awareness to local communities across Scotland. The tour, which runs in partnership with Scotmid, has travelled all around the country in 2026.
As physiotherapy students from Edinburgh Napier University, on placement with Alzheimer Scotland, Anna (the writer of this blog!) and Liana were invited to assist the brain health team on the day. A big thank you to Katie Weldon, the Community Engagement Officer, for inviting us along.
Tasks for the Day
Liana spent most of her day with Bab’s the Brain – a giant inflatable brain named after Dame Barbra Windsor (see photo). Visitors can step inside the brain, explore how it’s different parts work, and discover helpful and interesting tips about keeping our brains healthy. Meanwhile, Anna was stationed at the very popular smoothie bike – where you pedal a stationary bike to power a blender, creating your own ‘brain-boosting’ smoothie. This was a huge hit, particularly with young people. We must have made thousands of smoothies over the course of the day!
The Importance of Brain Health
Brain Health Scotland’s mission is to “inspire and empower you to protect your brain and reduce risks of diseases that lead to dementia”. Recent research has indicated that the onset of dementia is influenced by many factors, some of which are beyond our control, such as genetics, but many of which we can affect, such as our lifestyle. In fact, a Lancet Commission published in 2024 suggested that approximately 45% of cases of dementia could be prevented by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors throughout our lives, such as high blood pressure, physical inactivity, smoking, social isolation and brain injury. It is this simple but powerful message that drives the Big Brain Tour mission.
Why Brain Health at a Festival?
Thousands of people attended the balloon festival, including many families and young people. This provided a fantastic opportunity to promote brain health to people of all ages in a fun and engaging environment. Brain Health Scotland say that it is ‘never too early, never too late’ to begin looking after your brain. By starting conversations with people so young, they are promoting healthy habits than can last a lifetime.
The other great advantage of the festival was its natural association with several healthy brain habits: we were all outdoors, socialising with different people, moving through the park, and at our smoothie bike station, people had an opportunity to eat well too. All things that are great for our brains.
What the Day Taught Me
My main takeaway from the day is that brain health can be fun! Both the smoothie bike and Bab’s the Brain were huge hits and provided a great opportunity to talk to young people about how amazing the brain is. I realised that public health promotion should be innovative, engaging and enjoyable. Before beginning this placement, I would not have expected to be standing in the middle of a balloon festival, watching a hot air balloon shaped like Thomas the Tank Engine rise into the sky, while encouraging people to cycle until their smoothie was blended! Yet, this was the perfect environment to foster interesting and accessible conversations about brain health, without making the topic too overwhelming. The day also highlighted the immense responsibility that myself and my physiotherapy colleagues have in promoting healthy brain habits to people. In every different setting – in clinics, in hospitals, in the community – we are meeting with people all day long and should utilise that opportunity to discuss such an integral aspect of health. There is a role for all of us in public health engagement. Every conversation counts.
My Brain Health
Working with the brain health team at Brain Health Scotland, has inspired me to consider my own brain health. There are things I already do well: I exercise regularly, I (mostly) eat well and I spend lots of time with my family and friends. Going forward though, I would like to be better at switching off and reducing stress. I have therefore decided that for the remainder of my time with Alzheimer Scotland, I’m going to practice a selection of new activities to help me winddown after a day of placement – including jigsaws, reading, and painting. This is my own personal pledge to practice better brain health.
“What is one new thing you could you do to keep your brain healthy?”
Contributor: Anna Richardson, Edinburgh Napier University, Physiotherapy Student
For more information on brain health please click here and the Big Brain Tour, please click here.
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Reference:
Livingston, G., Huntley, J., Liu, K. Y., Costafreda, S. G., Selbæk, G., Alladi, S., Ames, D., Banerjee, S., Burns, A., Brayne, C., Fox, N. C., Ferri, C. P., Gitlin, L. N., Howard, R., Kales, H. C., Kivimäki, M., Larson, E. B., Nakasujja, N., Rockwood, K., … Mukadam, N. (2024). Dementia Prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 Report of the Lancet Standing Commission. The Lancet, 404(10452). https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(24)01296-0
