DANCING is good for the body, we all know that, but
could it be good for the mind too?
An interesting experiment on BBC TV’s The Truth about Getting Fit suggests it could.
At Coventry University, a group of salsa dancers were
asked to do a series of mental tests before and after a 30-minute salsa session,
led by salsa instructor and exercise scientist (yes, really!) Dr Pablo Domene.
The tests covered the dancers’ ability
to make decisions and avoid distractions; their ‘working memory’ and ability to
recognise patterns, and, finally, their ability to anticipate moving objects.
The results were revealed by Cognitive Scientist
Professor Michael Duncan. He said that in the anticipation test, which looks at
perception and cognition together, the group’s performance as a whole was eight
per cent better after the salsa session than it had been before.
In the visual discrimination tests - the ones relating to
being able to make decisions without being distracted - the group did 13 per
cent better.
The best results of all, though came in the working
memory tests, which, according to Prof Duncan, measure: “the ability
to hold different bits of information in our heads to allow us to get the job
done, from following a recipe to holding a conversation”. In those, the group’s
performance improved by 18 per cent after their salsa session.
“I’ve never seen an improvement like this for any
other activity, including running and cycling,” Prof Duncan told presenter Dr Michael
Mosley.
“Most types of exercise have a positive effect on
cognitive performance but with something like salsa you have to think about the
pattern, you have to think about staying in time with the music, so that
actually requires a lot of cognitive manipulation. And when the dance is going
on, you are physically exercising yourself too.”
Or, in other words (ie mine!) take your brain dancing
and it’ll work a lot faster and better.
Certainly, Dr Mosley was impressed. “People say that
they don’t have time to exercise,” he said, “but what this research suggests is
that exercise makes you more productive, so you get more out of your day.”
