An illustration of people dancing. Photo/pinterest.com
A new study shows that older people who routinely partake in physical exercise can reverse the signs of aging in the brain, and dancing has the most profound effect.
Exercise has the beneficial effect of slowing down or even counteracting the age-related decline in mental and physical capacity.
Dancing is a powerful tool to set new challenges for body and mind, especially in older age. Dancing is a great form of aerobic exercise since it works many muscles in the body. Muscles become stretched, conditioned, and toned while the heart rate increases, pumping blood at a faster rate.
As bodies feel the benefit of a workout during the cool-down period, it's a good practice to have a few moments to rest after dancing, especially if it was a fast dance. Between dances, stretch out leg and arm muscles or, at the very least, sit in a chair and totally relax while rolling the neck slowly around, and then in a slow back and forth motion to release tension which may have built up in the back of the neck. A great benefit of exercise is that afterward, there is often an improvement in a person's disposition, so it's a win-win situation all the way around.
The dancing groups show an increase in the hippocampus region of the brain. This is important because this area can be prone to age-related decline and is affected by diseases like Alzheimer’s. It also plays a key role in memory and learning, as well as keeping one’s balance.
These extra challenges are thought to account for the noticeable difference in balance displayed by those participants in the dancing group.
Everybody would like to live an independent and healthy life, for as long as possible. Physical activity is one of the lifestyle factors that can contribute to this, counteracting several risk factors and slowing down age-related decline and dancing is a powerful tool to set new challenges for body and mind, especially in older age.