Dancing has been shown to reverse the signs of aging in the brain
JOHANNESBURG – Physical exercise has an anti-aging effect on the hippocampus region of the brain - the area which controls memory, learning, and balance - but dancing brings an additional benefit.
A study which compared dancing and endurance training in elderly volunteers for eighteen months shows that both can have an anti-aging effect on the brain, but only dancing corresponded to a noticeable difference in behaviour. The difference is attributed to the additional challenge of learning new dance routines.
Aging causes a decline in mental and physical fitness which can be made worse by conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. A new study, published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, shows that older people who routinely exercise can reverse the signs of aging in the brain, and that dancing has the most profound effect.
“Exercise has the beneficial effect of slowing down or even counteracting age-related decline in mental and physical capacity,” says Dr Kathrin Rehfeld, lead author of the study, based at the German centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Germany. “In this study, we show that two different types of physical exercise, dancing and endurance training, both increase the area of the brain that declines with age. In comparison, it was only dancing that lead to noticeable behavioural changes in terms of improved balance.”
Elderly volunteers (average age of 68) were recruited to the study and assigned to either an 18-month weekly course of learning dance routines, or of endurance and flexibility training. Both groups showed an increase in the hippocampus region of the brain. This area can be prone to age-related decline and is affected by diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Previous research has shown that physical exercise can combat age-related brain decline, but it was not known if one type of exercise was better than another. To assess this, the exercise routines given to the volunteers differed. The endurance training programme consisted of repetitive exercises whereas the dance group was challenged with new routines every week.
“We tried to provide our seniors in the dance group with constantly changing dance routines of different genres – Jazz, Square, Latin-American and Line Dance. Steps, arm-patterns, formations, speed and rhythms were changed every second week to keep them in a constant learning process. The most challenging aspect for them was to recall the routines under the pressure of time and without any cues from the instructor.”
The extra challenges are thought to account for the noticeable difference in balance displayed by the participants in the dancing group.
WATCH: Study suggests dancing may reverse the effects of aging in the brain.
