Dancing reverses aging

My mama had a dancing heart. So I passed it on.

When my son and daughter were little, not only at happy times, but especially after they’d been sad, I turned up the music, grabbed their little hands, and we danced ourselves silly until joy overtook us. I still do that, when I’m alone. It calms the seas within, and at least for a little while, lets the spirit soar.

And, apparently, keeps you young.

A recent study comparing dancing to other forms of exercise shows that while both have an anti-aging effect on the brain’s hippocampus — which controls memory, balance, and learning — dancing has another advantage over other types of exercise: it changes behavior and mood. It literally increases the size of that area of the brain, more than other forms of exercise.

With increasing age come declines in mental and physical fitness, including atrophy in the brain. This 2017 German study published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found dancing can help reverse some of these effects in seniors.

The volunteer participants, with an average age of 68, were assigned to 18-month, weekly courses to either learn dance routines or endurance and flexibility training. Both groups showed an increase in the hippocampus region of the brain — the area prone to age-related decline which affects memory, learning, and physical balance. They fell less. They felt better.

While previous research has repeatedly shown the positive impacts and prevention that physical exercise provides, and prior studies have shown the positive effects of dancing on balance, according to Science Daily such research rarely distinguishes between or compares types of physical activity. In this study, the traditional fitness training program conducted mainly repetitive exercises, such as cycling or Nordic walking, but the dancing group was challenged with something new each week. They learned a little jazz, Latin American, and line dancing. Rhythms, speed, forms and steps varied biweekly.

Part of why dancing had more anti-aging effects than other exercise, the study authors believe, is this requirement to learn, to change it up, to adapt with music. Mind and body both exercising simultaneously has the greatest effect.

In many other studies, music has been found to improve mental function and mood, and certain kinds of music such as classical have been repeatedly linked to higher math and test scores. While the senior subjects in the August 2017 study were of average health, Dr. Kathrin Rehfield, lead author of the German study, is also examining the effects of melodies linked with exercise on dementia patients. For more information see: https://bit.ly/2AESZeA

Everyone wants to lead an independent, long and healthy life. Exercise is good for the heart and music good for the mind, but dancing, it seems, is better for both.

So to live longer and better, let your heart dance.

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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network who wishes she was as good a dancer as her daughter. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.