Benefits of dance (Wikipedia)

Being in general an aerobic exercise, dance brings well known benefits, such as reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, weight control and other ones commonly associated with physical fitness. In addition, a considerable effect of dancing on psychological well-being is noted.

A large amount of governmental, health and educational information is available extolling the benefits of dance for health.^[1]

Dance pads have proven useful in tackling obesity in young people and are welcomed in many schools for that reason.^[2]

A report by Professor Tim Watson and Dr Andrew Garrett of the University of Hertfordshire compared members of the Royal Ballet with a squad of British national and international swimmers. The dancers scored higher than the swimmers in seven out of ten areas of fitness.^[3]

An Italian study in 2006 has shown that dance is a very good exercise for heart patients compared to other aerobic exercises like cycling. This may be partly because the patients enjoyed it much more.^[4][5]

A study in New York in 2003 has shown that cognitive activities like crosswords help ward off dementia but, except for ballroom dancing, most physical activities do not.^[6][7]

A recent study done in Perth Western Australia by Debbie Duignan (WA Alzheimers Association) explored the use of Wu Tao Dance as a therapy for people with dementia. It was shown that Wu Tao, dance therapy that works to balance energy in the body, similar to T'ai chi, helped to reduce symptoms of agitation in people with dementia.^[8]

A study at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine in 2007 showed Argentine tango was better at improving the mobility of Parkinson's disease sufferers than an exercise class^[9] (a later study showed similar benefits from T'ai chi). Because of the level of interest a permanent tango class was set up after the study ended.

A study by Dr Paul Dougall at Strathclyde University in 2010 concentrating on older women found that Scottish country dancers were more agile, have stronger legs and can walk more briskly than people of the same age who took part in exercises such as swimming, walking, golf and keep-fit classes.^[10]

 

Another gain of dancing is for those who have high cholesterol, plus drugs and adequate food, dancing can draw. As an aerobic exercise abridged levels of total blood cholesterol, especially LDL cholesterol, acknowledged as bad and helps boost levels of HDL or good cholesterol.^[11]

^{Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_and_health}

Biology - Brain: Memory

Memory is one of the activities of the human mind, much studied by cognitive psychology. It is the capacity to retain an impression of past experiences. There are multiple types of classifications for memory based on duration, nature and retrieval of perceived items.

The main stages in the formation and retrieval of memory, from an information processing perspective, are:

• Encoding  (processing of received information by acquisition)
• Storage  (building a permanent record of received information as a result of consolidation)
• Retrieval  (calling back the stored information and use it in a suitable way to execute a given task)

A basic and generally accepted classification (depending on the duration of memory retention and the amount of stored information during these stages) identifies three distinct types of memory:

• sensory memory
• short-term memory
• long-term memory

The first stage corresponds approximately to the initial moment that an item is perceived. Some of this information in the sensory area proceeds to the sensory store, which is referred to as short-term memory.

 

Sensory memory is characterized by the duration of memory retention from miliseconds to seconds and short-term memory from seconds to minutes. Once the information is stored, it can be retrieved in a period of time, which ranges from days to years and this type of memory is called long-term memory.

The sensory and short-term memory are bio-electrical types of memory, as they store information in form of electrical signals, whereas the long-term memory is a bio-chemical type of memory.

When we are given a seven digit number, we can remember it only for a few seconds and then forget (short term memory). On the other hand we remember our telephone numbers, since we have stored it in our brain after long periods of consolidation (long term memory).

The definition of working memory, which is erroneously used as a synonym of short-term memory, is based on not only the duration of memory retention but also the way how it is used in daily life activities. For instance, when we are asked to multiply 45 with 4 in our head, we have to perform a series of simple calculations (addition and multiplications) to give the final answer. The process of keeping in mind all this information for a short period of time is called working memory.

Another good example is a chess player, who is playing with multiple opponents at the same time and trying to remember the positions of pieces in all games and using this information to make a good move, when required. Long-term memory can further be classified as declarative (explicit) and procedural (implicit).

Explicit memory requires conscious recall, in other words the information must be called back consciously when it is required. If this information is about our own lives (what we ate for breakfast in this morning, our birth date etc.), it is called episodic memory, if it concerns our knowledge about the world (capital of France, presidents of US etc.), then it is called semantic memory.

Implicit memory is not based on the conscious recall of information stored in our brain, but on the habituation or sensitization of learned facts. We perform better in a given task each time we repeat the task, that is we use our implicit memory without necessarily remembering the previous experiences but using the previously learned behaviours unconsciously. For example, classical conditioning is one kind of implicit memory.

 

Another example is memory resulting from motor learning, which depends upon the cerebellum and basal ganglia. 

Link: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_brain01.htm