ONE of my sporting heroes Oksana Chusovitina was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame last weekend. The 41-year-old has competed at seven Olympic Games, variously representing the former Soviet Union, Germany and Uzbekistan.

Nor is the indomitable Chuso planning on hanging up her leotard any time soon: she is aiming for a record-breaking eighth Olympics in 2020.

While not all of us can somersault, soar through the air or perform the splits, a report published this month found that a new chair-based gymnastics exercise programme could have significant benefits for those living with dementia.

The research, conducted by Age UK on behalf of the British Gymnastics Foundation, showed "demonstrable benefits in the physical, emotional and cognitive aspects of older people". It indicated that those with mild to advanced forms of dementia appeared to reap the biggest rewards.

The Love to Move programme uses specially designed "bilaterally asymmetrical exercises" where the individual draws different patterns with the left-hand side of their body to the right-hand side.

Remember that childhood game of trying to tap your head and rub your stomach at the same time? It takes concentration but by practising you increase the ability for the right and left sides of your brain to process information independently of each other.

This improved capacity to perform bilateral movement sees the brain increase the number of connections it makes between its neurons which, in turn, results in increased cognitive ability.

For people with dementia, it has been shown to improve their ability to process everyday tasks such as feeding themselves, doing crafts and playing bingo, as well as socialising with friends and family.

The idea was first trialled in Japan and South Korea where the respective gymnastics federations jointly developed an exercise programme for people living with dementia. It is now state-funded in care homes throughout Japan as well as many across South Korea.

The British Gymnastics Foundation is keen to replicate that success here and ran a six-month pilot scheme in two care homes and a day centre in Cambridgeshire. To date 150 people have taken part with largely positive results.

Benefits highlighted include participants being taken off medication for hypertension, depression and sleeping difficulty. Although these findings are derived from a small sample, it makes for promising and uplifting reading.

The charity, a partner of British Gymnastics, now hopes to train more people to deliver the programme across the UK. A crowdfunding campaign has raised £11,940 of its £25,000 target so far.

Since the report's findings were published there have been almost 25,000 downloads of the Love to Move Exercise at Home guide, available free from the British Gymnastics website.

To date, more than 50 organisations and individuals including health trusts, dementia care units, local authorities, fitness professionals and physiotherapists have signalled an interest in delivering the programme or being involved in its future roll out.

These include carers in Edinburgh and Inverness as well as sports coaches and gymnastics clubs from across Scotland.

"We understand that building cognitive reserve as early as possible is beneficial for everyone," says British Gymnastics Foundation manager Patrick Bonner.

Time to pull up a pew and get exercising.