By Katy Rosen
Summer 2017 Intern
I did not like the dancing portion
of high school theater; every dance was a painful experience for me and anyone
nearby. To this day, I cannot confidently do the Charleston, but luckily all
that time spent on the dance floor wasn’t wasted. It turns out even poor
attempts at dancing can help your brain!
A team led by a Colorado State
University researcher conducted a study on the effects that dancing has on
the brain. The team also set out to find if changes in the aging brain are
inevitable. The study focused specifically on the areas of the brain pertaining
to memory: the hippocampus and the fornix.
Of the four groups within the
study, those that partook in dancing had the least amount of decline within
their brains. Within all groups there was some decline, but the good news is
that every group that participated in exercise had less of a decline than those
that did not!
The takeaway here is that while we
know of nothing (so far) that can completely stop the aging of the brain, there
are definitely actions that can slow this process down. So, Charleston connoisseur
or not, get out on the dance floor and get your groove on!
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