DANCE YOUR WAY TO A SHARPER BRAIN
Dance! The very word makes us smile. When you dance you can’t help but feel joyful, elated and rejuvenated.
I have been dancing since I was 5 years old. Now a mother of two, ‘am still at it – dancing, teaching and choreographing. With each passing day more scientific data is coming thru on the benefits of dance.
Humans have been dancing for centuries. Long before agriculture, before we learnt to build shelters, before language, we were singing and dancing. We are hard wired for art. For some reason dancing made us happy.
What has also been known for some time is that there is a connection between dancing, memory and cognitive skills.
Science came into the picture fairly recently. When neurological research was done, the results were nothing short of staggering.
It is a well-known fact that any physical exercise is good for you. But an important study in 2012 catapulted dance to the top of the list of physical activities.
The 21-year study of senior citizens, 75 and older, led by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, and funded by the National Institute on Aging, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Cognitive activities like reading, writing, doing crossword puzzles, playing cards and playing musical instruments were studied. Also included were physical activities like playing tennis or golf, swimming, bicycling, dancing and walking.
One of the surprises of the study was that almost none of the physical activities appeared to offer any protection against dementia. There can be cardiovascular benefits of course, but the focus of this study was the mind. There was one important exception: the only physical activity to offer protection against dementia was frequent dancing.
More studies corroborated these findings.
This compelling connection between dance and the brain is now being used as a powerful tool in all areas of mental health such as depression, dementia, and especially Alzheimer’s disease – a major health issue of our time.
When similar studies were done among school kids and young adults, and across a spectrum of ages, dancing was found to decrease stress levels, increase creativity and intellect.
This begs the question – why is dancing better than other activities in improving mental smarts?
Turns out – the one thing the brain thrives on, is learning new information. While most physical exercises like walking and running are repetitive, dancing has an extra challenge of learning new routines.
Split second footwork, hand movements, body angles, staying on beat, responding to music, constantly thinking about what comes next in your routine – the whole exercise is an active one, not passive like walking on the Nordictrack.
Without a doubt dancing is one of the best exercises there is to increase mental acuity and keep the brain sharp. And now we have the science to back it up.
