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The health benefits of dancing. This week: Alzheimer’s RESEARCHERS at the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases have found that exercise can reverse ageing in the brain — dancing has the greatest effect.

Volunteers with an average age of 68 were assigned an 18-month course, where they either learnt dance routines or did endurance and flexibility training. Both groups showed an increase in the hippocampus — an area of the brain prone to age- related decline and affected by diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The dancers also had improved balance.

As they participated in different genres of dance, it’s thought this kept them in a constant learning process.

Dr Kathrin Rehfeld, the lead researcher on the study, published in Frontiers In Human Neuroscience, is now evaluating an anti-ageing fitness programme where physical activity is used to generate melodies. ‘We know dementia patients react strongly when listening to music,’ she says.