Research Hit: Dancing the Blues Away
Dancing in Parkinson's patients changes brain connectivity and decreases depression
Well, we should all know that dancing is good for you!
Yes, it combines many elements such as exercise, music, coordination, and also social contact. But to what degree it is positive needs a study, and Karolina Bearss et al. investigated the long-term impacts of dance classes.
And how did they do this?
They followed a cohort of 34 (23 with Parkinson’s and 11 healthy controls) over 8 months. These had a weekly dance class and their depression levels were measured after each class. Most participants also underwent brain scanning up to four times (a minimum of twice to be included in the study).
And what did they find?
First they found that each single dance class improved depression levels (not by much but enough to be measured and considered significant). That’s already great news.
What’s more this was also cumulative continually improving over the 8 months.
The brain scanning was also fascinating. The researchers zoomed in on an area called the subcallosal cingulate gyrus (SCG) because this is associated with depression. In a subset of participants changes in activity here was correlated with a decrease in depressive symptoms. They also noted that frontal regions of the brain associated with emotional regulation also had changed functional connectivity.
So dancing changes your brain?!
Well, yes, but as I have said many times anything new you do changes your brain. But the impact on depressive symptoms is very encouraging. It also supports dancing as an effective, and, for most people, a fun way to get active and improve brain function.
So whether depressed or not, Parkinson’s or not, dancing may well be a good way to engage you brain and body. But for those with depression and/or Parkinson’ doubly so.
It was only a small study but there have been plenty of other encouraging studies showing the positivity of dancing.
That’s good enough for me!
Yup, get dancing!
Karolina A Bearss, Rebecca E Barnstaple, Rachel J Bar, Joseph F X DeSouza.
Impact of Weekly Community-Based Dance Training Over 8 Months on Depression and Blood Oxygen Level–Dependent Signals in the Subcallosal Cingulate Gyrus for People With Parkinson Disease: Observational Study.
JMIRx Med, 2024; 5: e44426
DOI: 10.2196/44426