Skip to main content

New story in Health from Time: How to Dance Your Way to Wellness



We all know that being more active is a good way to keep your body healthy. And more and more data are suggesting that it can have benefits for the brain as well.

To understand why dance can be so beneficial, I spoke to Helena Blumen, assistant professor in the department of medicine at Albert Einstein Medical College, and Derek Hough, professional dancer and choreographer from Dancing With the Stars and currently a judge on World of Dance. It was helpful to hear Blumen talk about what she and others are finding out about what happens to the body and brain when you dance, and also hear directly from Hough about what happens to his physical and mental wellness when he dances.

Blumen is studying dance in older adults, and described a study in which she compared people assigned to walk on a treadmill to those in a social dance class for six months. People who danced showed more encouraging improvements in tests of their cognitive functions than those walking on the treadmill, and Blumen says the social nature of dancing—working with a partner, as well as the intellectual skills required to learn steps and think about connecting different movements—could be contributing to these benefits.

Hough described those processes as “not linear or lateral; it’s four dimensional.” For him, dancing is “constant problem solving,” and that may be part of why Blumen is seeing those cognitive benefits in the people assigned to dance in her study.

The most important lesson from the discussion is that dance is good for getting your heart rate up and keeping you active, but it may also help to sharpen some of the thinking skills that tend to deteriorate with age.

In fact, no matter how old you are, dancing may be a good way to keep fit and stay sharp, and even get your creative juices flowing. If you’re intimidated by dancing, Hough has this advice: “When in doubt, shake it out! This is reclaiming something, this freedom, this childlike state of ‘who cares the way I move, who cares if people are looking or watching.’”

Try it for yourself—Derek teaches a quick routine at the end of the video above that will hopefully inspire you to start dancing.

Popular posts from this blog

New video by gymvirtual on YouTube

Rutina para adelgazar | Ejercicios para perder peso en casa ♥ ♥ LÉEME / DESPLIÉGAME ♥ ♥ Hola a todos, hoy os traigo una rutina de cardio de 25 minutos para quemar grasa y adelgazar en casa. En la web https://ift.tt/39VJREp encontraréis los calendarios de entrenamiento tanto para principiantes como para avanzados. Si quieres conseguir tú transformación en solamente 12 semanas, entra ya en http://www.pgv12.com y elige el PLAN PGV12 que más se adapte a ti. Nuestro lema: YO PUEDO CON TODO Los hashtags: #GymVirtual #YPCT #YoPuedoConTodo #PGV12 ♡♡ ¡SUSCRÍBETE! ♡♡ http://www.youtube.com/user/gymvirtual ................................................................................................................................. ♡♡ PLAN DE ENTRENAMIENTO + NUTRICIÓN 12 SEMANAS♡♡ http://www.pgv12.com ................................................................................................................................. ♡♡¡ECHA UN VISTAZO A NUESTRA TIENDA ONLINE! ♡♡ https://ift.tt/2Un...

New story in Health from Time: After Cruise Ships and Nursing Homes, Will Universities Be the Next COVID-19 Tinderboxes?

The fall semester has yet to begin, but student athletes training for the season can already be found on college campuses across the U.S. And so can COVID-19. Since the start of July there have been at least two outbreaks among student athletes, coaches, and staff—with 37 infected at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill and 22 at Boise State . Clusters of infection have been traced to college town bars popular with students. A common misconception is that young people with COVID-19 don’t die and therefore college re-openings pose little risk. Sadly, this isn’t the case. COVID-19 deaths in the young are rare, but they happen. Universities across the U.S. are mourning the loss of students in the lead-up to the school year, including Joshua Bush , a 30-year old nursing student at the University of South Carolina, Trevor Syphus Lee , a 27-year old senior at Utah Valley University, and Juan Garcia , a 21-year old Penn State undergraduate. One might imagine th...

New story in Health from Time: ‘We Are In Crisis.’ COVID-19 Exacerbates Problems for People With Disabilities

Jeiri Flores is normally a busy, upbeat 29-year-old. But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, her go-to thought has been dark. “If I get this,” she thinks, “I’m gonna die.” This is not an unfounded fear. Flores has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and needs assistance with everyday tasks, including making food and getting dressed. Her disability means it’s tougher for her immune system to kick illnesses; she’s still recovering from a bout of pneumonia she had in January. So beating COVID-19 could easily mean a protracted battle and months in a hospital—a prospect that comes with a cascading series of challenges unique to people with disabilities. At a time when all Americans are facing unforeseen obstacles and concerned about their futures, Flores and more than 60 million Americans with disabilities like her are facing perhaps the toughest road of all. With hospitals restricting visitors amid the pandemic, Flores and others who rely on family and aides for assistance and advoca...