Dance Lessons Offer Benefits for the Aging Brain

Learning a new skill, remaining socially engaged and keeping physically active are key ingredients to living a better old age and now research has found that combining all of these with regular dance lessons could help protect the aging brain from cognitive decline.

According to a March 30 report in the Huffington Post, a new study from Colorado State University has found exercise that blends learning with social interaction has a positive effect of the part of brain involved with memory.

A group of 174 healthy seniors between the ages of 60 and 79 were studied over a period of four years.  The older adults were divided into four groups that met three times a week to participate in aerobic walking, walking while taking a nutritional supplement, stretching and balance classes or a dance class.

Each participant had an MRI screening at the beginning of the study and six months following participation in their group’s activity.   The group that took dance classes demonstrated an improvement in the fornix, the area of the brain linked with memory and processing speed.  The fornix carries signals from the hippocampus to other areas of the brain. Researchers believe this gain in the white matter (deeper tissues of the brain containing nerve fibers) in older dance students is encouraging news for the rapidly rising number of seniors worldwide.

Dancing, besides being a fun and engaging social and physical activity, also employs the use of music which has been found to have multiple brain benefits.  Music can lower anxiety and studies have also linked listening to music with a more robust immune system.

Follow this link to read the full study.