Endominance, Inc., a leading assessment and data analytics firm headquartered in California, today announced the recent launch of a groundbreaking study to determine how physical exercise builds resilience to the effects of trauma and stress among first responders. Lead researchers First Responder Stress & Trauma (F1RST) and Endominance are conducting the study in conjunction with supporting researchers Dr. John Ratey and InBody. As many as 400 first responders from police and fire departments in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area are participating in the study over the course of 90 days.
The study kicked off earlier this month at Sports Academy, a state-of-the-art human performance company headquartered at the Sports Therapy & Research Institute in Frisco, Texas. Each participant is to engage in aerobic exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes per workout, five days per week, with activity tracked using Amazfit Band 5 wearable devices. One device is provided to each participant, courtesy of MSC Brain, a multi-national research center.
Sparking Life President and Co-Founder Dr. John J. Ratey, an Associate Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized neuropsychiatrist, will supervise the research. Dr. Heather Twedell, a first responder psychologist with over 13 years of experience and the founder of F1RST, will drive the project in the role of lead researcher. InBody, an international leader in Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) and body composition analysis, will use their 770 device to calculate participant physical and body composition metrics, contributing physiological data.
Endominance will gather cognitive data using their proprietary evaluation tool, the COSEC (Cognitive Orientation & Social Emotional Competencies) Assessment, as well as psychological data using the PHQ-9 and PCL-5. Under the guidance of CEO Paul Lee, Endominance measures and determines the unique cognitive data for each participant.
“The results of this study will allow for the creation of evidence-based solutions that, most importantly, are specific to first responders,” said Lee. “Endominance is proud to play a central role in this study. In doing so, we will provide cognitive markers that measure and identify the distinct patterns related to how a first responder perceives his or her environment, conceives various sensory signals, and then applies them to decisions and behavior.”
The research is the first-ever, large-scale study to examine how physical exercise may help first responders increase their resilience to the trauma they experience in the field. The physiological and cognitive data gathered in this study will be used for comparative analysis with future research examining trauma experienced by first responders. Ongoing collaborative efforts are anticipated in order to continue to identify and provide solutions for first responders.
