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Put On
Your Dancing Shoes
(from living well)
Dancing
is a great way for people of all ages to get and stay in shape. It is
a fun way to be social and reduce stress. But one benefit of dance
that you may not know is that it can actually make you smarter.
Dancing
increases serotonin levels, the neurotransmitter responsible for enhancing
many of the brain's functions, both directly and indirectly. And
increased serotonin levels enhance learning abilities and improve memory.
A 21-year
study of senior citizens, aged 75 and older, led by the Albert Einstein
College of Medicine in New York City, funded by the National Institute on
Aging, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine
objectively measured mental acuity in aging people by monitoring rates of
dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.
The study
wanted to see if any physical or cognitive recreational activities
influenced mental acuity. The study showed that some activities had a
significant beneficial effect while other activities had none.
One of
the surprises of the study was that almost none of the physical activities
appeared to offer any protection against dementia. There was one
important exception: the only physical activity to offer protection
against dementia was frequent dancing which reduced the risk of dementia by
76 percent.
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