It’s International Dance Day
I’m a regular at Dee’s modern jive classes in Chideock village hall on a Monday evening. I always feel better after a couple of hours of ‘yoyos’ and ‘catapults’, learning to follow and step to the beat. And, judging by the smiles of my fellow students, I’m not alone.
So is dancing really good for my ageing brain?
It’s a hard thing to measure – after all, you can’t run a double-blind trial – but there’s growing evidence that spending time moving to music is good for global cognitive function, roughly on a par with other moderate-intensity aerobic exercise like going for a brisk walk – Effects of dance on cognitive function in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Dancing is also good for the parts of your brain that keep you steady on your feet and reduce dizziness linked with falls – the ‘vestibular-ocular reflex – Dance Training and the Neuroplasticity of the Vestibular-Ocular Reflex: Preliminary Findings. If you keep dancing with the same partner for a while, your neurons may even start to fire to the same beat – Enhanced neural synchrony associated with long-term ballroom dance training.
The social side of a dance class is obviously a plus, but just six months playing a digital dance game at home for half an hour every week could be enough to boost cognitive performance and quality of life, even reducing the amount of time you spend sitting down overall – Efficacy of Digital Dance on Brain Imagery, Cognition, and Health: Randomized Controlled Trial.
But what’s that got to do with lights?
- Entrainment – Your limbs naturally follow rhythms in the outside world – Informational constraints on spontaneous visuomotor entrainment, with rhythmic visual cues outperforming audio cues when it comes to synchronising critical movements like stride length – Temporal organization of stride-to-stride variations contradicts predictive models for sensorimotor control of footfalls during walking, with implications for recovery from hip operations – Network analysis reveals the path to recovery after arthroplasty for unilateral total hip osteoarthritis. So adding a light source with rhythmic motion to a physiotherapy session (or a workout at home) can improve your performance.
- Letting your hair down – We tend to behave differently in brighter and darker spaces, with dim lighting associated with more creativity and disinhibition (perhaps a mixed blessing when it comes to ‘dad’ dancing…) – Freedom from constraints: Darkness and dim illumination promote creativity. When it comes to dancing, trying out some moves in a space where you feel you’re not on show will help you feel less self-conscious and remember the steps more easily. Simply recalling an embarrassing move will make it harder to get up and strut your stuff – especially if you’re a guy – Gender-specific effects of self-objectification on visuomotor adaptation and learning. So a slightly gentler approach will help you to get out of your comfort zone.
- Line dancing – while turning the lights down to reduce inhibition might sound dangerous – after all we’re more likely to trip and fall in the dark – we need more light as we age – Environmental Design Strategies to Reduce Fall Risks among Older Adults: An Integrative Study Based on Environmental Behavior Theory. But perhaps contrast as much as absolute light levels matters too, as this study points out that, while confidence changes, recognition of obstacles is broadly stable across a range of illuminance from 8 to 800 lux – The effect of illumination on the visibility of steps and ramps for people with low vision.
Older eyes struggle with glare and take to three times longer to adapt to sudden changes in luminance – Age and Glare Recovery Time for Low-Contrast Stimuli, but once they’re set for a lower illuminance overall, replacing the traditional disco spotlights with vertical lines could help, improving posture and gait – The effect of low light levels on postural stability in older adults with age‐related macular degeneration. And even make it easier to get out of your chair and onto the floor – Lighting for improving balance in older adults with and without risk for falls.
Mental Health Awareness Month kicks off today
Maybe it’s the algorythm, but my Youtube and LinkedIn feeds are popping with pitches for webinars and articles linked to Mental Health Awareness Month.
Sounds grand – but what does that really mean?
Mental health, defined by the WHO as ‘a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community.’
It seems to me to be a ‘chicken and egg’ where those who have the chance to fulfil their potential, to learn, have meaningful work and spend time with people they like and respect are more likely to enjoy good mental health. Those who don’t have access to those opportunities, whether through poor physical health or living in institutional environments where there is simply not enough to do, are at far higher risk of struggling to cope – an estimated 40% of people living in residential care are suffering from depression – Depression among older people living in care homes, with another study noting that over one in ten people received a new diagnosis of depression within 90 days of admission to long-stay care – Nursing Home Star Ratings and New Onset of Depression in Long-Stay Nursing Home Residents.
Nurses working in social care are likely to struggle to keep their smile too, with one study by RCNFoundation noting that almost one in three social care nurses self-reported General Health Question symptoms above the threshold for intervention.
What’s that got to do with the lights?
One major study found that access to outside spaces was the only significant predictor of depression in people living in residential care – The Impact of the Physical Environment on Depressive Symptoms of Older Residents Living in Care Homes: A Mixed Methods Study. Perhaps that’s linked to another recent literature review that concluded that regular light exercise improved mental and physical health across the board – Effects of exercise interventions on physical function, cognitive function and quality of life of frail older adults in nursing homes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
While there’s plenty of daylight here in the UK in May, most of us simply don’t get enough of it to help us to cope with the inevitable roller coaster ride of daily life – whether it’s because we don’t get outside enough or because we sit more than a couple of meters away from the window. Artificial lighting is no substitute for the real thing. Simply positioning the nurse workstation next to a window may be enough to increase laughter and social interaction, even when the light levels are the same – The Impact of Windows and Daylight on Acute-Care Nurses’ Physiological, Psychological, and Behavioral Health. Done right, it can help to bridge the gap, with ‘circadian’ lighting, when done right, delivering measurable benefits to staff and residents alike while reducing energy use – Post-Occupancy Environmental Performance of a Household-Model Residential Aged Care Facility: A Same-Site Sequential Evaluation (Phase 2).
But, as this study points out, a sustainable approach to lighting is a system, not a product.
Just as taking care of your mental health is an approach, not a webinar.