Dance routines could be the hidden treatment for brain health. Favorite songs always trigger pleasant memories and feel like time capsules, able to even cure Alzheimer. Now a recent study suggests that by performing dance routines both your body and your mind will be maintained young and healthy.
Dance is the new medicine
The study included MRI scans which showed that age degeneration in brain structure improved when the subjects performed dance routines. The average age group of the subjects was 68 and they participated in weekly choreography courses to learn dance routines. The study was published in the Frontiers in Neuroscience journal.
The study has been made by researchers from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease and Institute for Sports and Science in Magdeburg.
More on the study
The Group of German researchers intended to compare the neuroprotective benefits of those who perform moderate-to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) against the brain benefits of those taking dance classes. The results showed that both dance classes and fitness training induce hippocampal plasticity in elderly people; however only dance classed improved their balance capabilities.
The hippocampal gray matter volume got increased by performing regular aerobic activity such as walking, biking or using an elliptic trainer.
These results are in line with other previous studies which proved that learning and memorizing choreographies promotes neural activity and functional connectivity between brain regions.
Previous studies connecting dance with brain health
A study dating from 2016 and published in the Journal of Cognitive Psychology confirmed that the neural benefits of dancing are present. The researchers concluded that sport dancers showed more increased body intelligence sensitivity when compared with the control group.
In 2014 another study was published in the journal of Neuroscience and it consisted in the use of magnetic resonance imaging to scan the subjects’ brains while they tapped their finger on a beat of an unheard before song.
