More Health Benefits of Dance!

Greetings!

        


Have you seen the new Disney movie Mary Poppins Returns?  Were you as impressed with Dick Van Dyke's wonderful dance scene as I was?

        In my November, 2018 post, I wrote about the anti-aging effects of dance. Today I am sharing some more good news.

        "Dance Like Your Doctor Is Watching:  It's Great for Your Mind and Body,"  Time, December, 2018, cites two recent studies that tout dance's capacity for helping to stave off disability and dementia while we age. 

        One study followed about 1000 elderly women and monitored them for 8 years, measuring their ability in everyday tasks as well as keeping track of their health and what kind of physical activity they did.

        The results showed that some kinds of exercise seemed to stave off the effects of aging better than others. Dancing came out on top, beating out calisthenics, walking and yoga!

        "The researchers found that women who frequently danced had a 73% lower chance of becoming disabled during the study period. Researchers theorize that this is because dancing requires an engaged mind as well as an active body. It is a multi-layered activity.  Most people have fun while they are dancing and don't realize that it often requires learning and remembering steps, keeping time to music, spatial and body awareness, and last but not least, strength, balance, flexibility, and stamina.


        The second study cited in the article is from the Journal of American Geriatrics Society.  Thirty-two past studies were analyzed.  This totaled more than 3500 people who ranged from ages 50 to 85.  It attempted to discern the effects that mind-body activities, such as t'ai chi, yoga, and dance, have on the cognitive function of aging adults.

        The results were startling. They found strong evidence that 60 to 120 minutes of tai chi or dance per week could "improve global cognition, even for adults who already had some impairment." 

It cautions that these body/mind activities aren't proven to cause the health benefits, but that they do seem to be associated with the positive results.

Conga Line!

        However, to bolster the case for dance even further, it cites a study that was published in 2017 showing through brain scan imaging, that "dancing can increase the amount of white matter in the brains of elderly adults.  White matter degrades with age, and this breakdown is thought to be associated with cognitive decline."


        Click here if you would like to read the full article:  http://time.com/5484237/dancing-health-benefits/

        We often think of the physical benefits of dance, which are substantial and important, but studies continue to reveal and reinforce the many cognitive benefits as well.

        All we need to do is take a look at Dick Van Dyke at 90+ years old, tapping and high-stepping on the desktop, and we can see it for ourselves!



Keep on Dancin',


Connie

MOVING IS LEARNING!

www.movingislearning.com

Check out Connie's upcoming picture book at: 

 https://www.freespirit.com/early-childhood/from-a-to-z-with-energy-connie-bergstein-dow-gareth-llewhellin

                                                                             

The Anti-Aging Effects of Dance!

Hello!

One of the things I often blog about is the benefits of dance, for children and adults. When I come across some interesting research, I like to pass it along. Much of the information for this post is from: https://blog.frontiersin.org/2017/08/29/dancing-can-reverse-the-signs-of-aging-in-the-brain/

Dr. Kathrin Rehfeld,  the lead author of this recent study, is based at the German center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, in Magdeburg, Germany. Several previous studies have shown that physical exercise has an anti-aging effect on the hippocampus region of the brain, an area that controls memory, learning and balance.  

Dr. Rehfield's new study compares two basic but different forms of exercise -- dancing versus endurance training -- undertaken by elderly volunteers (with an average age of 68), for 18 months.  The outcomes show that both can have an anti-aging effect on the brain, but only dancing corresponded to a noticeable difference in behavior.  This difference is attributed to the extra challenge of learning dance routines. 

The study compared volunteers who either took an eighteen-month weekly course of learning dance routines, or endurance and flexibility training.  Both groups showed an increase in the hippocampus region of the brain. But the group who danced weekly, with changing routines, rhythm, patterns, and steps, in order to challenge their memories, showed a noticeable difference in balance.  Dr. Rehfield says "I think dancing is a powerful tool to set new challenges for body and mind, especially in older age."

I will add my two cents here from my long career of teaching dance.  When you are learning a new dance -- line dancing, square dancing, hip-hop, folk, zumba, ballroom,  ballet, etc. -- your brain and body are working together in a variety of ways. First, there is the basic learning and then memorization of steps.  But where are you in space? Which direction do you go with the steps?  What is the count of the music you are dancing to, and how do the steps synch with the music? What are the music cues you are listening for? What is the rhythm of the steps? 

And there's more! Where are you going in relation to other people who are dancing with you? How do you interact with them, and when?  What do the arms do while the legs are doing the different steps? What patterns do you recognize in the steps, that might help you remember the sequence? Do any of the steps repeat? How? Do they repeat in the same way, or in a different direction, different count, different rhythm?  

This is a lot to think about!

There are so many factors involved in learning a dance. But the challenge is worth it.  Once you have learned a dance, you have the satisfaction of performing it over and over, and knowing you have accomplished something that can be difficult at first. The good news is that it does get easier with practice. So whatever form of dancing you find that you enjoy, stick with it, and according to study after study,  both your body and your brain will benefit.

Moving Is Learning!

Keep on Dancin',


Connie

www.movingislearning.com

#cbergsteindow

Check out Connie's upcoming picture book at:

 https://www.freespirit.com/early-childhood/from-a-to-z-with-energy-connie-bergstein-dow-gareth-llewhellin

 http://movingislearning.com