{"id":2251,"date":"2016-10-06T19:15:58","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T19:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/?p=2251"},"modified":"2016-10-06T19:15:58","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T19:15:58","slug":"use-lose-dancing-makes-smarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/blog\/dance-info-news-trends\/use-lose-dancing-makes-smarter\/","title":{"rendered":"Use It or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We at<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/use-lose-dancing-makes-smarter\/934056_1598710593737390_7421204393816999072_n-sm\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2252\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2016\/10\/934056_1598710593737390_7421204393816999072_n-sm.jpg\" alt=\"934056_1598710593737390_7421204393816999072_n sm\" width=\"480\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2252\" \/><\/a> Fred Astaire Franchised Dance Studios always talk about the benefits of dance \u2013 socializing, building confidence, learning a new pastime, getting in better shape.<\/p>\n<p>Guess what? Dancing makes you smarter.<\/p>\n<p>In an article called Use It or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter, Richard Powers, who leads Stanford University\u2019s dance department, came up with some important research, especially applicable to older adults.<\/p>\n<p>We quote: \u201cYou may have heard about the New England Journal of Medicine report on the effects of recreational activities on mental acuity in aging. Here it is in a nutshell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 21-year study of senior citizens, 75 and older, was 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. Their method for objectively measuring mental acuity in aging was to monitor rates of dementia, including Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p>The study wanted to see if any physical or cognitive recreational activities influenced mental acuity. They discovered that some activities had a significant beneficial effect. Other activities had none.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey studied cognitive activities such as reading books, writing for pleasure, doing crossword puzzles, playing cards and playing musical instruments. And they studied physical activities like playing tennis or golf, swimming, bicycling, dancing, walking for exercise and doing housework.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the surprises of the study was that almost none of the physical activities appeared to offer any protection against dementia. There can be cardiovascular benefits of course, but the focus of this study was the mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was one important exception: the only physical activity to offer protection against dementia was frequent dancing.<\/p>\n<p>Reading \u2013 35% reduced risk of dementia<br \/>\nBicycling and swimming \u2013 0%<br \/>\nDoing crossword puzzles at least four days a week \u2013 47%<br \/>\nPlaying golf \u2013 0%<br \/>\nDancing frequently \u2013 76%. That was the greatest risk reduction of any activity studied, cognitive or physical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Come in and take a private lesson or a group class. Join us for our parties when we dance, dance, dance.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s not only fun. It\u2019s the smart thing to do.<\/p>\n<p>For the finest in ballroom dance instruction, contact <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/\">Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Bonita Springs<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We at Fred Astaire Franchised Dance Studios always talk about the benefits of dance \u2013 socializing, building confidence, learning a new pastime, getting in better shape. Guess what? Dancing makes you smarter. In an article called Use It or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter, Richard Powers, who leads Stanford University\u2019s dance department, came up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dance-info-news-trends","category-nutrition-health"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bonita-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}