With some 55 million people all over the world suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia, researchers have been scrambling for years for an effective treatment.
However, researchers at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine say one way to stave off cognitive decline might just be as close as your nearest dance floor: ballroom dancing.
The researchers set up a small study in which they enrolled 25 adults over 65 years of age in either sessions on a treadmill or ballroom dancing lessons.
The scientists explained that while the subjects hadn’t been formally diagnosed, they were observed to have scored poorly on a dementia screening test before starting their prescribed six months of twice-weekly activities.
The researchers noted afterward that both kinds of physical activity “improved their executive functioning – an umbrella term for planning, reasoning and processing tasks that require attention.”
They added, however, that dancing “generated significantly greater improvements than treadmill walking … Compared with walking, dancing was also associated with reduced brain atrophy in the hippocampus – a brain region that is key to memory functioning and is particularly affected by Alzheimer’s disease.”
The scientists said the “key finding” of their study published in the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity was that “social ballroom dancing can improve cognitive functions and reduce brain atrophy in older adults who are at increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.”
So if you’re getting up in years, better get those dancing shoes on.