108
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Superior Sensory, Motor, and Cognitive Performance in Elderly Individuals with Multi-Year Dancing Activities

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Aging is associated with a progressive decline of mental and physical abilities. Considering the current demographic changes in many civilizations there is an urgent need for measures permitting an independent lifestyle into old age. The critical role of physical exercise in mediating and maintaining physical and mental fitness is well-acknowledged. Dance, in addition to physical activity, combines emotions, social interaction, sensory stimulation, motor coordination and music, thereby creating enriched environmental conditions for human individuals. Here we demonstrate the impact of multi-year (average 16.5 years) amateur dancing (AD) in a group of elderly subjects (aged 65–84 years) as compared to education-, gender- and aged-matched controls (CG) having no record of dancing or sporting activities. Besides posture and balance parameters, we tested reaction times, motor behavior, tactile and cognitive performance. In each of the different domains investigated, the AD group had a superior performance as compared to the non-dancer CG group. Analysis of individual performance revealed that the best participants of the AD group were not better than individuals of the CG group. Instead, the AD group lacked individuals showing poor performance, which was frequently observed for the CG group. This observation implies that maintaining a regular schedule of dancing into old age can preserve cognitive, motor and perceptual abilities and prevent them from degradation. We conclude that the far-reaching beneficial effects found in the AD group make dance, beyond its ability to facilitate balance and posture, a prime candidate for the preservation of everyday life competence of elderly individuals.

          Related collections

          Most cited references64

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Cardiovascular fitness, cortical plasticity, and aging.

          Cardiovascular fitness is thought to offset declines in cognitive performance, but little is known about the cortical mechanisms that underlie these changes in humans. Research using animal models shows that aerobic training increases cortical capillary supplies, the number of synaptic connections, and the development of new neurons. The end result is a brain that is more efficient, plastic, and adaptive, which translates into better performance in aging animals. Here, in two separate experiments, we demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge, in humans that increases in cardiovascular fitness results in increased functioning of key aspects of the attentional network of the brain during a cognitively challenging task. Specifically, highly fit (Study 1) or aerobically trained (Study 2) persons show greater task-related activity in regions of the prefrontal and parietal cortices that are involved in spatial selection and inhibitory functioning, when compared with low-fit (Study 1) or nonaerobic control (Study 2) participants. Additionally, in both studies there exist groupwise differences in activation of the anterior cingulate cortex, which is thought to monitor for conflict in the attentional system, and signal the need for adaptation in the attentional network. These data suggest that increased cardiovascular fitness can affect improvements in the plasticity of the aging human brain, and may serve to reduce both biological and cognitive senescence in humans.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Hormesis defined.

            Hormesis is a term used by toxicologists to refer to a biphasic dose-response to an environmental agent characterized by a low dose stimulation or beneficial effect and a high dose inhibitory or toxic effect. In the fields of biology and medicine hormesis is defined as an adaptive response of cells and organisms to a moderate (usually intermittent) stress. Examples include ischemic preconditioning, exercise, dietary energy restriction and exposures to low doses of certain phytochemicals. Recent findings have elucidated the cellular signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms that mediate hormetic responses which typically involve enzymes such as kinases and deacetylases, and transcription factors such as Nrf-2 and NF-kappaB. As a result, cells increase their production of cytoprotective and restorative proteins including growth factors, phase 2 and antioxidant enzymes, and protein chaperones. A better understanding of hormesis mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels is leading to and to novel approaches for the prevention and treatment of many different diseases.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              Exercise and brain neurotrophins.

                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Front Aging Neurosci
                Front. Ag. Neurosci.
                Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
                Frontiers Research Foundation
                1663-4365
                24 May 2010
                21 July 2010
                2010
                : 2
                : 31
                Affiliations
                [1] 1simpleNeural Plasticity Lab, Institute for Neuroinformatics, Ruhr-University Bochum Bochum, Germany
                [2] 2simpleDepartment of Neurology, BG-Kliniken Bergmannsheil, Ruhr-University Bochum Bochum, Germany
                Author notes

                Edited by: Lars Nyberg, Umeå University, Sweden

                Reviewed by: Fredrik Ullén, Stockholm Brain Institute, Sweden; Lars Nyberg, Umeå University, Sweden

                *Correspondence: Hubert R. Dinse, Neural Plasticity Lab, Institute for Neuroinformatics, Ruhr-University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany. e-mail: hubert.dinse@ 123456rub.de
                Article
                10.3389/fnagi.2010.00031
                2917240
                20725636
                73f81700-47a4-4b7a-9ea8-497567951920
                Copyright © 2010 Kattenstroth, Kolankowska, Kalisch and Dinse.

                This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

                History
                : 02 April 2010
                : 02 July 2010
                Page count
                Figures: 2, Tables: 2, Equations: 0, References: 83, Pages: 9, Words: 8555
                Categories
                Neuroscience
                Original Research

                Neurosciences
                successful aging,dance,aging,plasticity,intervention,neurotrophic factors,seniors,enriched environment

                Comments

                Comment on this article