Why Minneapolis St. Paul Twin Cities are A Perfect Storm for Tango: Our Educated Demographic Will do the Math & Dance! A Fun Way to Reduce Risk of Alzheimer's by 76% (reducing other ails, too)

September 25, 2019 Grace Stewart

Every Good Reason is Waiting Upon You to Fill These Shoes

… and you’re about to know why.

We are particularly fortunate to live in these Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul that is known for a phenomenon of cultural balance: it’s equal love for arts, sports, health & fitness, outdoor wilderness and parks, & philanthropy. For the size of our cities, we pack a punch! Being one of the few cities with every sports stadium (hockey, baseball, football, soccer), dozens of performance arts theaters and museums, we display powerful commitment to community enrichment. When it comes to the arts, we are the envy of the nation for local & state grants and foundations. We have this uniquely robust balance to be proud of while holding the position in having the most finished college degrees, per capita, in the nation, to boot. With this much vitality and intelligence, why stop here? What is the next level? How do we make the most of what we have now? I am proposing that we continue on the path of being exceptional in this one more way: becoming a leading community example of increasing brain power and reducing the treacherous ails of aging with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s that is vastly preventable, or at least postponed or improved upon. The good news is we have the facilities and teachers of Tango at the ready and a budding community here for what is called the Tango embrace to do just that.

Is it justified to be so Tango-centric? The short answer is yes, the long answer is probably still, yes. While ALL dancing is showing to be beneficial to the brain, Tango peculiarly shows to significantly excel in it’s beneficial reach and is therefore capturing the central interest of all the dance forms in scientific inquiries. I say, why wait for any more published scientific reasons to dance, we have the verdict already and we can even further the data by just running with the data we have so far? Carpé Diem! We’ve seen the best sellers for the “Blue Zones” for looking at communities with longevity; how about our twin cities become one of the the “Tango Zones” of brain vitality! Heads up Minnesota authors, we’ve got a best selling book to write titled “Tango Zones”, and since my mind is slotted to to still be sharp when the book comes out, please send me a signed copy in advance! Minnesotans can be Tango Zone subjects, we can develop ourselves to capture and deserve this positive fascination! Why not?

Before I get to the nitty-gritty of the science behind that magic math of 76% Alzheimer’s prevention and how Tango compares to other prevention methods, let’s first look at how Tango shoes can come in many shapes and sizes and for all ages. Here we can see street shoes, high heels, flip flops, tennis shoes, you name it, housing the feet of children, millennials, baby boomers, all generations. This is a Tango flash mob video, with permissions, from Budapest Hungary:

See this content in the original post

The Science Points to the Crucial Difference That Sets Tango Apart:

Constant Improvisation Blending with Empathy & Music

There are 4 dance studies that are included in this blog, one of which, specifically, sets Tango above and apart from the rest.

First of all, let’s differentiate how including many forms of dance as a lifestyle is where it is “at” when compared to other activities, in preventing mental decline. A 21-year study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, conducted by the New York-based Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine looks at whether the swath of the following activities lowers the risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s and here are the conclusions: exercises such as biking, swimming, or golfing reduce the risk by 0%; Reading reduces the risk by 35%; doing crossword puzzles at least 4 days a week – 47%; and frequent dancing reduces the risk of Dementia by 76%. What is meant by frequent? It appears that there is a minimum of 2x a week while 4x a week is optimal when looking at all four studies, overall.

new picture of swimming coming soon. biking. golf

0% Prevention

35% Prevention

47% Prevention

76% Prevention

While there are other virtues to all the activities above, when it comes to preventing mental decline, reading, puzzles and dancing are showing to be ways that turn the brain on, long term. Growing the “white & gray matter” is what keeps the brain young and the more ways we can incorporate these activities in our lives, the better! The brain does not have to decline, and there are numerous proofs of the brain being able to regenerate. By this time, researchers have compared these brain-boosting hobbies to more physical activities in 469 seniors & dancing was the only one of eight that appeared to help with Alzheimer's prevention.

The role of regular exercise in Alzheimer's prevention appears questionable. Some studies suggest it mildly reduces risk, likely because exercise improves blood flow and aids in brain cell development, but not so effective on neurogenesis.

What about white brain matter and dance? Let’s get into that matter! In a study published in March of 2017 by a group of German scientists, the further findings of scanning the brain with MRI technology found astounding benefits of dance that clearly shows to grow white matter in the brain when compared to other physical fitness exercises.

Neuroprotection Laboratory, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany
Institute of Sport Science, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany
Medical Faculty, Institute of Physiology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences (CBBS), Magdeburg, Germany
Informatics and Microsystem Technology, University of Applied Science Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Medical Faculty, Clinic for Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
Edited by: Aurel Popa-Wagner, University of Rostock, Germany
Reviewed by: Daniel Ortuño-Sahagún, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Mexico; Raluca Sandu Vintilescu, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Romania

While yet another larger collaborative dance study between

Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Neurosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA
3Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA
4Division of Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
5Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IO, USA
6Senior Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Education, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

was also published in March of 2017 & shows that dance intervention actually increased cognitive and processing abilities that is also reflected in the MRI scan findings of greater activity in the fornix of the brain, while it did not affect the memory functions of the brain. Also, that walking or walking plus nutrition, nor other social engagement, prevented brain matter decline.

The Fornix in Color

what matters most to brain matter?

new dance movement informs new brain folds. Don’t get rote rot!

step into dance shoes and matter away!

(meditation keeps and makes matter, too, and will make mention later in this blog)

Below are the illustrations of the German 2017 published study of how dance vs. sports show further decline with age and sports activity and with regeneration & increased folds in the brain with non-routine improvisational dance.

and not just more folds in the brain were found, but significant increase of gray matter volume, as well.

Is tango even better, in particular? some doctors and scientists are saying so, yes!

Effects of Tango on Functional Mobility in Parkinson's Disease: A Preliminary Study

Hackney, Madeleine E. BFA; Kantorovich, Svetlana BS; Levin, Rebecca DPT; Earhart, Gammon M. PT, PhD

Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy: December 2007 - Volume 31 - Issue 4 - p 173-179

doi: 10.1097/NPT.0b013e31815ce78b

Article

More doctors are writing an unusual prescription for their patients with Parkinson’s disease: go out dancing and call me in the morning. Research by Gammon Earhart, a professor of physical therapy, Dept. of Neurology and Neurobiology at the School of Medicine of Washington University in St. Louis, found that the “Tango proved better than the Waltz and Fox trot, even better than Tai-Chi, in improving movement in patients with Parkinson’s disease.”

The following is an excerpt citing a study from McGill University pointing to Tango as a preventative step to slow, postpone and prevent Parkinsons Disease:

“Argentine tango may be particularly helpful for improving balance and functional mobility in patients with PD (Parkinson’s Disease) because Tango requires specific steps that involve rhythmically walking forward and backward. This may be particularly helpful for walking difficulties especially for freezing of gait and to prevent backward falls. In addition, tango requires working memory, control of attention, and multitasking to incorporate newly learned and previously learned dance elements, to stay in rhythm with the music, and maneuver around others on the dance floor.

Many Parkinson’s patients find traditional exercise programs unappealing. Over half of Parkinson’s patients fail to get their recommended daily dose of physical activity. There is however, a connection between music and the dopamine systems in the brain -- which are pivotal for establishing and maintaining behavior. So, combining music with exercise in dance such as the Tango, can increase accessibility, enjoyability, and motivation, as well as improving mood and stimulating cognition. Also, the social interaction and social support involved in tango have positive results on mood and compliance.”

Tango Shoes or a Cell Phone Screen, Both Give us Dopamine. But only One of These Gives Us New Folds of Gray Matter & More Brain-mass Volume. There is Apparently a Deep Biological Fulfillment in Tango, As if the Inventors of Tango were Doing the Tango with the Brain Intuitively and We are Just Finding this Out Scientifically.

So where is the real brain gym? time to tango twin cities!

We have amazing resources

In Richfield off of Hwy 62 at the Lyndale Ave Exit, we Have Sabine at The Tango & I with an incredible team of instructors: Morgan, Susan, Megan, & Avery. In the years I have taken both classes & private lessons with numerous teachers in the Minneapolis St. Paul area, I would say that The Tango and I offers the most support in their beginners classes and have a very well attended intermediate and advanced classes, as well. I have enjoyed every lesson, however, in other venues and with other instructors and I encourage you to try them all and find your favorite, perhaps get the Tango biological brain fulfillment imperative bug and dance the Tango 4x a week and spread your wings as soon as you can and have your feet fly on the dance floor. Speaking of flying on the dance floor, that is where you can find lessons is at the Flying Pig Studio!

There are several classes per week throughout the Twin Cities!

The Tango & I Calendar is here and we Have a Minnesota Tango Society non-profit organization and their calendar can be found right here: https://www.mntango.org/calendar/

Other classes and Tango resources will be added to this article in the coming weeks as I hunt down other class schedules not listed at the Minnesota Tango Society’s website here in Hopkins, Stillwater, Minnetonka, Excelsior, etc. If you know of more Tango classes not listed in the calendars provided here, please send me a message and I will update this section of this blog.

meditation can come in many forms of stillness & movement.

While what I teach in meditation are awareness practices while relaxing in a seated or lying position, with plenty of active imagination work that can organically unfold into an incredible quietude at times, I teach in such a way that I can make myself obsolete and to me, this is the greatest success: a manner of meditation where I help people get far enough to learn how to release from anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc. & embrace a newfound ground within typically in one session, or maybe two or three and come to enjoy the process of independently and frequently meditating in a compelling solitary way from that first session (or two or three) forward.

Tango is a social moving meditation where there is both an inner silence and attention while the body is moving in concert with a deep listening to another person’s body moving and this is what I believe many call “Tango Zen” and I hope we find each other with wildly creative minds into our later years dancing synchronizing brainwaves with more benefits than any science will ever be able to keep up with! Personal power is found in personal experience so in this, dancing Tango as a moving meditation might just be some of the most powerful of social human connection experience there is!

While I come from a meditation background of both career and personal interest with a favorite form called “dzogchen,” which is considered the penultimate in all meditation pathways, the Tango might just be the penultimate form of all the moving meditations superseding tai-chi in the effects on the brain and physical ability to balance. What fascinates me is how both long term meditators and martial artists have the greatest evidence of gamma brainwave occurrences found compared to other brains; I personally wonder about long term Tango dancers and gamma brainwave occurrences, as well, and hope that more studies come to the fore on long term Tango dance experts and the correlation to gamma brainwaves, too. Most people live out their entire childhood and adult lives combined and nary experience gamma brainwaves at all! But, what we do find scientifically, so far, about long term Tango dancing is it is holding the crown of slowing, postponing and reversing the signs of Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s and this is so significant to our community and our personal human journey. Being alive today is not for sissies. To make it in our lives with joy intact requires engagement! Everyone who knows anyone who has suffered with the treacherous malady of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s knows that they themselves do not want to go down that pathway themselves if it can be helped, and this is why it is important to understand that Tango holds a key to prolonging the chance for a joyful and sound mind and worth more than a look, it is worth a “do”. To know is to do.

Because I am a meditation enthusiast beyond all other disciplines, I will now mention that while this article did not include any science on meditation and brain matter, because most studies on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s have so far not run trials on meditation as related to dementia prevention yet, I wish to certainly include here that meditation and the brain are in a such a tight romance that just 2 minutes a day yields positive results in brain tissue.

For those who meditate regularly, by age 50, the meditators brains are on average 7 & 1/2 years younger! In a 2016 study, researchers at UCLA compared anatomical markers of aging in the brain between 50 long-term meditators and 50 non-meditators. At age 50, the meditators' brains were found to be a whopping 7½ years younger on average than their peers'.

Give it a go: Commit to meditating as few as 1 or 2 minutes per day, and stick with it for a month, suggests Richard J. Davidson, PhD, founder of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. As he says, "Even short—but consistent—periods of meditation may improve cognitive function and slow age-related decline."

Any motivation to dance is a good motivation, and Tango with dedicated and talented instruction will not let you down!

Bellow are some additional curiosities and rescources on the topic of Tango, dance, brain health and meditation:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321632.php “Anticholinergics for depression, such as amitriptyline, dosulepin, and paroxetine, have previously been linked to higher risk of dementia, even when they were used up to 20 years beforehand.” Some Anti-anxiety and Depression Medications, Even with Brief Usage, are More than Correlating to Higher Risk of Dementia!

“Some studies have also suggested that use of any anticholinergic is linked to raised risk of dementia.” If at all possible, head serious depression and any ailment off at the pass, whenever possible. Look for all alternatives. What is wonderful about dance and Tango is that there are no ill side-effects, given the right shoes and a healthy socializing.

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03269149 Emory University 2017-2021 : caregivers reduction of anxiety through tango instead of anxiety medications study.

http://www.oprah.com/health_wellness/steps-to-take-now-to-prevent-dementia/all An ounce of prevention or postponement is worth a pound of cure!

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthy-aging/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-super-ager Harvard study on Super Agers

https://www.mcgill.ca/neuro/channels/news/tango-dancing-could-benefit-parkinsons-disease-patients-246414 again, another study from McGill University points to Tango as a preventative step to slow, postpone and prevent Parkinsons Disease.

https://www.berkeleywellness.com/fitness/active-lifestyle/article/many-health-benefits-dancing Stanford, Berkely, general wellness points to dance.

https://www.lifespan.org/news/ri-hospital-announces-tango-clinical-trial-combat-alzheimers national Tango Study beginning in 2019 nationwide sponsored by a Rhode Island hospital. Why wait?

https://rejuvenatinglifestyle.com/13-essential-dance-benefits/ Dance in general and brain studies, another article by a retired ballet dancer.

https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/04/04/keep-dancing-turns-good-brain/ a great article with more links to more scientific studies.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/1011885-8-activities-benefits-brain/ According to an academic paper in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, participants in a weekly, hour-long dance class were found to have "significant improvements of performance…in cognition/attention (memory, visuo-spatial ability, language and attention), reaction times, sensory-motor performance, posture and lifestyle" after six months in the class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETtADCJ67rw a 71 year old woman rocks it out on America’s got Talent, wows everyone with Tango.

https://www.newchoicehealth.com/f/240078/fairview-southdale-hospital/brain-mri Do you want to get a brain MRI in the Twin Cities, call around and see who is the least expensive. Appears that the lowest cost is around $650 Your brain is the best equipment you’ve got, check it out. If you do, please let me know, I would love to collaborate.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325697.php on boredom and who get’s bored and ways to re-think boredom for the brain’s sake.

https://cancer.osu.edu/news-and-media/news/argentine-tango-therapy-helps-restore-balance-for-cancer-patients-with-neuropathy#! Argentinian Tango, again is especially effective in cancer patient’s recovery of balance and joy, etc.

https://theconversation.com/how-our-brain-controls-movement-and-makes-new-connections-when-parts-are-damaged-63520 Movement and motor skills work in reverse and create new neural pathways.

https://tangofantastico.com/tango-and-science Post-war veterans with PTSD find relief in Tango, Links to improvement in depression and anxiety are also found in Tango. You know what… America, and Minneapolis…. let’s just Tango and it shows to be more beneficial than yoga, tai-chi, chess, crossword puzzles. Fill in those shoes and articulate your feet and your brain will articulate new neuro-pathways to joy.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3864026/ Parkinson’s spacial awareness improves with Tango, study.

https://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/tips/g2916/how-to-prevent-alzheimers-disease-and-dementia/ for those who meditate regularly, by age 50, the meditators brains are on average 7 & 1/2 years younger! excerpt: This relaxation technique delivers. In a 2016 study, researchers at UCLA compared anatomical markers of aging in the brain between 50 long-term meditators and 50 non-meditators. At age 50, the meditators' brains were found to be a whopping 7½ years younger on average than their peers'.