People
love dancing because dancing is such an awesome form of entertainment
and relaxation, but how much do they know about the effect of dancing on
the brain.
File photo used only for illustrative purpose
Those of you who like to get your groove on on the dance floor will
probably be surprised to find out that you are doing yourself a world
of good. Dancing is more than just an enjoyable activity to experience
with friends or your partner; dancing has the amazing ability to improve
the way your brain functions. Let’s look at five exciting things that
dancing can do to your brain.
1. It’ll enhance neuroplasticity
A study led by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York
City, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was conducted
over a period of 21 years and looked at senior citizens 75 years and
older. The researchers measured mental acuity in aging by monitoring
rates of dementia. The aim of the study was to find out if any physical
or cognitive recreational activities had an effect on mental acuity.
The study found that some cognitive activities influence mental
acuity, but almost none of the physical activities had had any effect.
The one exception was frequent dancing. Some findings of the studies
were:
- Reading – 35% reduced risk of dementia
- Bicycling and swimming – 0% reduced risk of dementia
- Doing crossword puzzles at least four days a week – 47% reduced risk of dementia
- Playing golf – 0% reduced risk of dementia
- Dancing frequently – 76% reduced risk of dementia
People who dance regularly have greater cognitive reserves and an
increased complexity of neuronal synapses, explained neurologist Dr.
Robert Katzman. Dancing lowered the risk of dementia by improving these
neural qualities. Dancing may cause the brain to continually rewire its
neural pathways and by doing so help with neuroplasticity.
2. It’ll make you more intelligent
What is meant by intelligence? If our response to a given situation
is automatic (the stimulus-response relationship is automatic) then it
is generally accepted that intelligence is involved. When the brain
evaluates various reasonable responses and deliberately chooses one
response, the process is considered to be intelligent. Jean Piaget
stated that intelligence is what we use when we don’t already know what
to do.
To put it simply, the essence of intelligence is making decisions.
To improve your mental acuity, it is best to involve yourself in an
activity that demands split-second, rapid decision making. Dancing is an
example of a fast-paced activity that demands speedy decision making.
It requires instant responses to questions like Which way to turn? What
speed to move your body? and How to react to your partner’s movements?
Dancing is an excellent way to maintain and enhance your intelligence.
3. It’ll improve your muscle memory
The article The Cognitive Benefits of Movement Reduction: Evidence
From Dance Marking states that dancers can achieve complex moves more
easily when they undergo the process of “marking”—walking through
movements slowly and encoding each movement with a cue.
Researcher Edward Warburton, a former professional ballet dancer,
and his colleagues looked at the “thinking behind the doing of dance.”
They published their findings in Psychological Science, a journal of the
Association for Psychological Science. They found that marking lessened
the conflict between the cognitive and physical aspects of dance, and
doing so gave the dancers a chance to memorize and repeat moves with
greater fluidity.
It was concluded that visualizing movements and marking can help
improve muscle memory. This type of visualization and marking, learned
through dance, can also be used across a variety of fields to optimize
performance.
4. It’ll slow down aging and boost memory
Dr. Katzman believes that the more complex our neuronal synapses
are, the better. He believes that you should do whatever you can to
create new neural paths, and dancing is a great way to do this.
As you get older, brain cells die and synapses become weaker.
Nouns, like names of people, are harder to remember because there is
only one neural pathway that leads us to this stored information.
If you work on learning new things, like dance, you can work on
building different mental routes and many paths. So if one path is lost
as a result of age, you have an alternative path that you can use to
access stored information and memories.
5. It’ll help prevent dizziness
Have you ever wondered why ballet dancers don’t get dizzy when they
perform pirouettes? Research suggests that through years of practice
and training, dancers gain the ability to suppress signals from the
balance organs in the inner ear that are linked to the cerebellum.
Dr. Barry Seemungal of the Department of Medicine at Imperial
explains that “It’s not useful for a ballet dancer to feel dizzy or off
balance. Their brains adapt over years of training to suppress that
input. Consequently, the signal going to the brain areas responsible for
perception of dizziness in the cerebral cortex is reduced, making
dancers resistant to feeling dizzy.”
If you suffer from dizziness, then making time in your schedule for
any form of dance is a good way to address this problem. Dancing will
help improve the function of your cerebellum, which in turn may help you
improve your balance and make you less dizzy. You do not need to be a
professional dancer to benefit from this sport. Dancing at all levels
will help.
Conclusion
Dance can be a great way to maintain and improve many of your brain
functions. Dance can increase your neural connectivity because it
integrates several brain functions at once; rational, musical,
kinesthetic, and emotional. This increased neural connectivity can be of
great benefit to your brain as it ages. So, dance now and dance often!
- This article was originally written by Rebecca Beris for 'Life Hack'
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