How to Improve Memory
Take Up Dancing
Memory loss need not be a natural part of aging. Much has been written about salvaging memory through exercise, diet, supplements and lifestyle. However, the one activity that has made a statistical difference in the way it improves memory is dancing. Dancing not only improves memory, it significantly reduces the risk of dementia by integrating several brain functions at the same time.
How to Improve Memory with Dancing
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported on the positive effects recreational activities can have on mental functions in the elderly. A 21 year study of senior citizens, 75 and older, it measured mental acuity in aging in order to monitor rates of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. What the study shows is that dancing improves memory by creating new neuronal pathways in the brain. The brain is remarkably plastic and changeable; it rewires itself with use. The key here is use: the more use is made of the brain, the more it builds greater cognitive reserves. When brain cells die and synapses weaken with aging, these cognitive reserves will replace the dying cells. In this particular study, dancing heads the list of activities that build cognitive reserves.
Dancing Reduces the Risk of Dementia
Several activities were monitored for their effect on mental acuity: reading books, doing crossword puzzles, playing cards and musical instruments, tennis, golf, walking and dancing. While several physical activities offered cardiovascular benefits, none improved memory or promoted mental acuity benefits as much as dancing. Frequent dancing was the only activity that offered significant protection against dementia. Reading reduced the risk of dementia by 35%; doing crossword puzzles 4 days a week reduced the risk by 47%. Frequent dancing reduced the risk by 76%.
Dancing Integrates Several Brain Functions at the Same Time
What is it about dancing that makes it such an effective memory builder? Several explanations come to mind. Dancing not only involves memorization of routines but also making freestyle split second decisions on tempo and moves. According to one writer, “dancers must memorize intricate steps and movements, master timing, and coordinate movements with a partner—the type of mental acrobatics that hold off memory loss and dementia.” Another explanation is that dancing is the only activity that integrates several brain functions at the same time—kinaesthetic, rational, musical and emotional. Dancers engage brain functions that oversee body movements, split second decisions, memorization of intricate steps, musical sensibility and emotional response. In one study, 110 individuals who had suffered chronic heart failure were randomly assigned to three groups:one group performed aerobic exercise (cycling or walking on a treadmill); another group did waltzing and a third group did no exercise at all. After 8 weeks of 3 exercise/dance sessions per week, the exercise group showed a cardiovascular fitness increase of 18%, while the dance group showed an increase of 19%. But here is the clinch: the dance group reported significant emotional improvement as well.
Dancing clearly outpaces other physical activities as a total engagement of mind, body, spirit and emotions. What better way is there to improve body, posture, mind, memory and emotional well-being all at once?
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