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May 2016 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
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Dance for
Alzheimer’s
Activity has health benefits
for both brain and body
By Charles Sebastian, Staff Writer
It’s no secret there are many benefits of dancing at any age. Keeping
the body active is a crucial issue as
the decades roll on and the body
fades. Finding something you actually want to do makes exercise fun.
People start dancing for many
reasons: to reap the benefits of
weight loss; for toning, balance,
poise and socializing; to develop
new muscle memory; and to enjoy
the excitement of moving to music.
But can dancing be a means of
slowing Alzheimer’s disease?
Involving plaques and tangles
of neural fibers in the brain,
Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease
that first presents as short-term
memory loss and mood swings.
Other issues in behavior, language
distortion and loss of purpose can
also be involved.
A great deal of research has been
done in the past three decades to
determine what might offset or
cure Alzheimer’s. Research also
explores the neuroplasticity of the
brain – its ability to keep firing and
remain flexible in thinking, memory
and motor function performance.
Dancing in general and partner
dancing in particular headed the
list of activities that enhance neuroplasticity, showing about 76 percent
improvement across the board.
According to the study, entitled
“Leisure Activities and the Risk of
Dementia in the Elderly,” the splitsecond, almost unconscious decision-making process used in partner
Einstein College of Medicine in
New York conducted the 21-year
study. The article detailing the
results appeared in The New
England Journal of Medicine’s June
19, 2003 issue. Using this research
A great deal of research has
been done in the past three
decades to determine what
might offset or cure Alzheimer’s.
dancing made it an effective tool.
In the lead-and-follow dynamics of
partner dancing, especially for the
follow, unplanned, in-the-moment
choices must be made so the partner can follow effectively. These
fast, spontaneous decisions fire up
the brain in ways other activities in
the study – such as readin