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According to research, it does! Studies indicate that ballroom dancing and other stimulating activities may lower the risk of cognitive decline. More importantly, they greatly enhance quality of life, which is something that dementia\u00a0steals from Alzheimer\u2019s patients and their families.\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s Disease International (ADI) reports that 35.6 million people worldwide have some\u00a0type of dementia. This number is expected to triple by 2050. Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD), a\u00a0debilitating brain disease, is the most common form of dementia. Not only does it cause\u00a0memory problems, but it also affects thinking, behavior and personality.\u00a0While the risk of Alzheimer\u2019s disease increases with age, it is not \u201cold timer\u2019s disease\u201d or \u201cold\u00a0age senility\u201d as some people call it. It is not a normal part of aging at all, and it can affect people\u00a0<\/em>as young as their 30s and 40s. AD robs people of their whole essence, ravishing both the mind\u00a0and body. The degenerative disease is a terminal illness with no cure.<\/em><\/p>\n Can this dreaded disease be prevented?<\/p>\n This question is one that intrigues doctors, scientists\u00a0and researchers, and there are no clear-cut answers. The Alzheimer\u2019s Association and other\u00a0groups continue to fund research on the development and progress of dementia. This is where\u00a0ballroom dancing and other leisure activities come in.\u00a0Recent studies are encouraging. Ballroom dance, piano playing, crossword puzzles and other\u00a0activities appear to keep Alzheimer\u2019s disease at bay. Two well-known studies \u2014 the Bronx Aging\u00a0Study and the Religious Orders Study \u2014 suggest that mind-challenging activities may prevent or\u00a0delay the onset of dementia in older adults<\/em>.<\/p>\n Does physical activity have the same effect as mental exercise on the development of\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s disease?<\/p>\n It really depends on the activity. According to the research, ballroom\u00a0dancing seems to be one of the few physical activities that can delay the onset of dementia and\u00a0<\/em>actually re-wires the cerebal cortex.\u00a0In addition to physical exercise, ballroom dancing is a cognitive activity that requires\u00a0concentration. \u201cBallroom dancing involves precise physical activity, listening to the music,\u00a0remembering dance steps, and taking your partner into account, which is very mentally testing,\u201d\u00a0In fact, ballroom dancing is more effective than working crossword puzzles for preventing\u00a0dementia. The mental challenge of dancing requires a person to think harder. Unlike the effects\u00a0of purely physical activity, hard thinking will not wear out the brain. In fact, the more people use\u00a0their \u201cbrain muscles,\u201d the sharper they get.\u00a0Dr. Jacqueline C. Dominguez, Memory Center director at St. Luke\u2019s Medical Center in the\u00a0Philippines, states that Ballroom dancing is an easy and inexpensive way to combat dementia.\u00a0\u201cBallroom dancing has everything in it for people to keep their wits.\u00a0There can be cardiovascular benefits of many different physical activities for seniors but the only\u00a0physical activity to actually offer protection against dementia was ballroom dancing on a regular\u00a0basis.<\/em> Quoting Dr. Joseph Coyle, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who wrote an accompanying\u00a0commentary:\u00a0\u201cThe cerebral cortex and hippocampus, which are critical to these activities, are remarkably\u00a0plastic, and they rewire themselves based upon their use.\u201d\u00a0Persons seem to be more resistant to the effects of dementia as a result of having greater\u00a0cognitive reserve and increased complexity of neuronal synapses. Like education, participation\u00a0in some certain activities lowers the risk of dementia by improving cognitive reserve.\u00a0Our brain constantly rewires its neural pathways, as needed. If it doesn\u2019t need to, then it won\u2019t.\u00a0A study done by The Albert Einstein College of Medicine also showed that we need to keep as\u00a0many of those paths active as we can, while also generating new paths, to maintain the\u00a0complexity of our neuronal synapses.<\/p>\n But does any kind of dancing lead to increased mental acuity?<\/p>\n No, not all forms of dancing will\u00a0produce this benefit. Not dancing which, like golf or swimming, mostly works on style or\u00a0retracing the same memorized paths. The key is the decision-making. Intelligence is what we\u00a0use when we don\u2019t already know what to do. But when it comes to preserving mental acuity,\u00a0then some forms are significantly better than others. When we talk of intelligence (use it or lose\u00a0it) then the more decision-making we can bring into our dancing, the better. \u201cRapid-fire\u201d decision\u00a0making is what leads to this improvement in intelligence. Ballroom dancing requires a lot of\u00a0quick decision making, in both the leading and the following roles.\u00a0Ballroom dancing integrates the mind, the emotions and the physical which the studies suggest\u00a0work together to improve mental health. It\u2019s never too early or too late to start strengthening\u00a0your mind. In conclusion, to help stimulate the mind and the soul, we recommend taking some\u00a0ballroom dancing lessons if you haven\u2019t already!<\/em><\/p>\n \nReferences: According to research, it does! Studies indicate that ballroom dancing and other stimulating activities may lower the risk of cognitive decline. More importantly, they greatly enhance quality of life, which is something that dementia\u00a0steals from Alzheimer\u2019s patients and their families.\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s Disease International (ADI) reports that 35.6 million people worldwide have some\u00a0type of dementia. This number […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/middletown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/middletown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/middletown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/middletown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/middletown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/middletown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/middletown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/middletown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/middletown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nReading \u2013 35% reduced risk of dementia
\nBicycling and swimming \u2013 0%
\nDoing crossword puzzles at least four days a week \u2013 47%
\nPlaying golf \u2013 0%
\nDancing frequently \u2013 76%. \u2013 That was the greatest risk reduction of any activity studied,\u00a0cognitive or physical.<\/p>\n
\n1. http:\/\/annettersmith.hubpages.com\/hub\/ballroom-dancing-and-alzheimers-disease
\n2. http:\/\/socialdance.stanford.edu\/syllabi\/smarter.htm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"