Louis\u2019 List: 580 adventures in one short life<\/a><\/p>\nAs a former professional dancer who did an Arts degree majoring in Leisure, Sport, and Tourism, she said it made \u201ca lot of sense because it combines so many things\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt combines learning choreography, balance, having to engage your brain in a number of different ways while you\u2019re moving your body,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it fires up those multiple neural pathways, that\u2019s where the level of effectiveness comes into it, rather than just doing a repetitive movement over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior Research Fellow at the School of Psychology at the University of New South Wales Dr Craig Sinclair said it\u2019s becoming clearer that \u201cthe connection between music and rhythm and movement is seeming to be very beneficial for people living with a range of neurodegenerative conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMusic is shown to be effective on its own, but there does seem to be something special about music that is participated in,\u201d Dr Sinclair, who specialises in dementia research said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a person is singing along or clapping along or dancing in some way, it does seem to show higher overall activation in the brain and higher connectivity between different brain areas. That\u2019s why it is now more and more used as a therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Sinclair cites examples of older dementia sufferers who struggle with short-term memory loss but can still sing along when they are played a song they knew when they were much younger and Parkinson\u2019s disease sufferers who \u201ccan walk if they\u2019re walking to the beat of a song, but they can\u2019t walk of their own volition\u201d. Dancing, he agrees, makes \u201cperfect sense\u201d as a preventative factor. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnything that we\u2019re doing as people age to keep cognitive stimulation high and to move in a way that is safe and beneficial for cardiovascular health is also going to be helping to prevent neurodegeneration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kruger said she has found the aged care and health system \u201ccomplicated\u201d, especially with family living in a different state. She has now tailored the Strictly You fitness program she started eight years ago before any family members were diagnosed with dementia to incorporate the benefits of dancing. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can do a five or 10-minute little piece of choreography at home every day – like doing Wordle or doing a crossword or doing Duolingo – according to the research they could help reduce your risk going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said with Australian\u2019s rapidly ageing population she\u2019d like to see process of negotiating the aged care system simplified and welcomes campaigns such as Think Again that can raise awareness about early dementia prevention and \u201ccreate that momentum we need for people to start putting this on the top of the priority list\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more conversations that people can have about it, the better we will be at finding ways to manage and hopefully slow down the progress,\u201d she said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gold Logie winner Sonia Kruger said she\u2019s looking seriously at her own life after seeing close family members…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[474214,474263,411957,474240,474250,180889,28329,474241,474218,377373,433716,467976,474256,376730,430905,474233,474255,376490,381856,474227,378100,474251,413170,474208,376637,381022,1725,474269,474245,474219,453886,64,63,75890,3768,32092,425151,474271,4244,474232,252374,474268,8841,9757,474239,344083,129671,474226,377817,474238,264052,378950,474247,380864,399466,249,474215,2582,474221,474242,538,474249,9371,474213,137,474257,425815,10148,63208,474231,474217,474259,6479,391934,474236,237381,45755,10365,77478,10485,363555,1679,6542,474252,474253,136,474210,474262,474246,6193,189692,34175,474260,381654,474224,474235,474223,474229,229220,1861,13304,310889,223502,474216,11428,8207,474267,474254,35557,399229,474248,8623,384058,366238,418548,398850,14585,474211,588,15207,22410,747,474243,146596,474266,177343,384863,474220,137392,384339,283916,411526,474234,474265,428986,474230,474207,448992,380113,389819,396013,474225,474212,385421,474237,214758,54798,474264,474228,474258,474222,474270,474209,64631,51712,29081,378993,474261,474244,56875],"class_list":["post-906330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-s-dementia","tag-s-disease-sufferers","tag-s-mind","tag-s-think-again-dementia-campaign-according","tag-think-again-editorial-dinkuskruger","tag-180889","tag-28329","tag-580-adventures","tag-a-2003-breakthrough-study","tag-a-couple","tag-a-desire","tag-a-different-state","tag-a-former-professional-dancer","tag-a-lot","tag-a-loved-one","tag-a-mediterranean-diet","tag-a-natural-drive","tag-a-number","tag-a-person","tag-a-preventative-factor","tag-a-range","tag-a-repetitive-movement","tag-a-song","tag-a-therapy","tag-a-way","tag-a-week","tag-aging","tag-an-arts-degree-majoring","tag-and-tourism","tag-any-family-members","tag-aspects","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-balance","tag-cardiovascular-health","tag-cent","tag-choreography","tag-close-family-members","tag-coffee","tag-cognitive-stimulation","tag-cognitive-tasks","tag-crossword-puzzles","tag-dancing","tag-dementia","tag-dementia-early-warning-signs","tag-dementia-research","tag-dementia-risk","tag-different-brain-areas","tag-different-ways","tag-dr-sinclair","tag-effectiveness","tag-eight-years","tag-elderly-loved-ones","tag-every-day","tag-examples","tag-experience","tag-fact-boxkruger","tag-family","tag-family-diagnoses","tag-first-hand-the-toll","tag-fitness","tag-frequent-dancing","tag-friends","tag-gold-logie-winner-sonia-kruger","tag-health","tag-her-own-health","tag-her-own-life","tag-high-blood-pressure","tag-high-blood-sugar","tag-higher-connectivity","tag-higher-overall-activation","tag-impaired-kidney-function","tag-independence","tag-its-own","tag-killer-diagnosismoment-family-secret","tag-kruger","tag-last-year","tag-leisure","tag-list","tag-longevity","tag-loved-ones","tag-medicine","tag-midlife","tag-more-attention","tag-more-from-think-againchilling-sign","tag-music","tag-music-and-rhythm-and-movement","tag-ned-14113","tag-ned-15346-think-again-what-we-achieveddr-sinclair","tag-neurodegeneration","tag-neurodegenerative-conditions","tag-new-research","tag-new-south-wales-dr-craig-sinclair","tag-news-com-au","tag-older-dementia-sufferers","tag-one-short-lifeas","tag-other-physical-activities","tag-outlouis","tag-parkinson","tag-people","tag-people-age","tag-perfect-sense","tag-physical-inactivity","tag-preventative-measures","tag-psychology","tag-report","tag-sad-family-health-battle","tag-senior-research-fellow","tag-sense","tag-short-term-memory-loss","tag-six-modifiable-risk-factors","tag-smoking","tag-so-many-things","tag-social-connections","tag-some-way","tag-something-special","tag-sonia-kruger","tag-specsavers-thinkagain-2026","tag-sport","tag-strength-training","tag-support","tag-tennis","tag-the-61-year-old-kruger","tag-the-age","tag-the-aged-care-and-health-system","tag-the-australian","tag-the-australian-institute","tag-the-barista","tag-the-beat","tag-the-benefits","tag-the-brain","tag-the-connection","tag-the-dementia-burden","tag-the-former-professional-dancer-and-host","tag-the-level","tag-the-lifestyle-changes","tag-the-new-england-journal","tag-the-right-things","tag-the-risk","tag-the-school","tag-the-stars","tag-the-strictly-you-fitness-program","tag-the-surprising-habit","tag-the-university","tag-the-voice-and-dancing","tag-the-way","tag-the-world","tag-their-independence","tag-their-independence-and-connection","tag-their-memory","tag-their-own-volition","tag-their-world","tag-those-multiple-neural-pathways","tag-times","tag-tv-star","tag-welfare","tag-your-body","tag-your-brain","tag-your-own-lifestyle","tag-your-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}