Six months of dance intervention enhances postural, sensorimotor, and cognitive performance in elderly without affecting cardio-respiratory functions

Abstract

During aging, sensorimotor, cognitive and physical performance decline, but can improve by training and exercise indicating that age-related changes are treatable. Dancing is increasingly used as an intervention because it combines many diverse features making it a promising neuroplasticity-inducing tool. We here investigated the effects of a 6-month dance class (1 h/week) on a group of healthy elderly individuals compared to a matched control group (CG). We performed a broad assessment covering cognition, intelligence, attention, reaction time, motor, tactile, and postural performance, as well as subjective well-being and cardio-respiratory performance. After 6 months, in the CG no changes, or further degradation of performance was found. In the dance group, beneficial effects were found for dance-related parameters such as posture and reaction times, but also for cognitive, tactile, motor performance, and subjective well-being. These effects developed without alterations in the cardio-respiratory performance. Correlation of baseline performance with the improvement following intervention revealed that those individuals, who benefitted most from the intervention, were those who showed the lowest performance prior to the intervention. Our findings corroborate previous observations that dancing evokes widespread positive effects. The pre-post design used in the present study implies that the efficacy of dance is most likely not based on a selection bias of particularly gifted individuals. The lack of changes of cardio-respiratory fitness indicates that even moderate levels of physical activity can in combination with rich sensorimotor, cognitive, social, and emotional challenges act to ameliorate a wide spectrum of age-related decline.

Keywords: VO2max; balance; cognition; dance therapy; enriched environment; intervention; sensorimotor; successful aging.

Figure 1

Average indices of individual performance (IP). Average indices of performance (IP) for subjects in the intervention and control groups before (PRE) and after (POST) a 6-month period of either dancing (IG) or no intervention (CG). Higher indices were found for the IG group in 6 out of 7 domains after 6 months of dancing intervention. “Cognition” (p ≤ 0.001) comprises the geriatric concentration test (AKT), Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM), Frankfurt Attention Inventory (FAIR), and Non-Verbal Learning Test (NVLT). “Reaction times” (p ≤ 0.001) comprise multiple-choice reaction times for the left and right hands and Reaction time analysis. “Hand/Motor” (p ≤ 0.001) comprises steadiness, aiming, pin plugging, and tapping of both hands. “Tactile” (p ≤ 0.001) comprises touch-threshold, 2pd, and haptic object recognition. “Intelligence” (p = 0.215) comprises RSPM. “Lifestyle” (p = 0.004) comprises life contentment (FLZ), and “Posture” (p = 0.001) comprises posture subtests 1–7. The vertical bars show standard errors of the mean. Asterisks mark significant differences before and after the intervention or after 6 months of no intervention respectively.

Figure 2

Group data of postural performance for subjects in the intervention (A) and control groups (B). Averaged COP deviations are shown as percentage changes in relation to origin of the coordinate system. Significant deviations were found in the IG group in the anterior direction for subtest 4 (upper right) and 5 (upper left) and in the lateral direction for subtest 6 (lower right) and 7 (lower left). No differences were found for subjects in the CG group. Standard deviations of average COP-positions (horizontal and vertical bars) are given for the medio-lateral and anterior-posterior directions.