As dementia rises in India, study finds dancing as an unlikely fix

A 2003 study has recently gained popularity on social media. The study finds that leisure activities such as dancing can significantly lower the possibility of dementia.

Representational image | Clipart

New Delhi: A leisure activity as commonplace as dancing may significantly reduce the risk of dementia, according to a 2003 study from The New England Journal of Medicine, as concerns grow over the rising burden of neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr Trisha Pasricham, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and columnist at The Washington Post, recently drew attention to a long-term observational study that found dancing was associated with a 76 per cent lower risk of dementia among older adults on Instagram.

Dementia is not a single disease but a clinical syndrome caused by progressive indicative of brain degeneration. It is a medical umbrella term for a set of symptoms caused by damage or disease in the brain, leading to a steady decline in mental abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life.

As symptoms worsen over time, there is a stark decline in brain function, including memory, thinking, and reasoning, and the ability to perform everyday activities. It includes conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.

The study, Dr Pasricham refers to, is called ‘Leisure Activities and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly’ and was based on a cohort of 469 community-dwelling adults over the age of 75 who lived in the Bronx neighbourhood of New York and were free of dementia at the start of the research. Researchers recorded over the course of five years how often participants engaged in various leisure activities such as reading, playing board games, making music and dancing.

During this period, 124 of the 469 participants developed dementia, including Alzheimer’s. The study tested the subjects against six cognitive activities and 11 physical activities.

When the researchers analysed the data, they found that several leisure activities, were associated with a lower risk of developing dementia compared with people who did not do these activities regularly.

“Among cognitive activities, reading, playing board games, and playing musical instruments were associated with a lower risk of dementia,” the study says. However, among physical activities, dancing was the only one linked to a statistically significant reduction in dementia risk.

How dancing helps reduce Dementia 

Dancing, as a way to reduce the risk of dementia, also becomes significant due to baseline social and economic access. The study points to hurdles in everyone undertaking cognitive activities. “Baseline cognitive status, educational level, and level of depression may confound the relation between leisure activities and dementia,” the study underlined.

One reason scientists claim dancing is beneficial is that it requires both physical and mental attention. It is a combination of exercise, balance, creativity and requires social interaction.

The Harvard professor suggests that when choosing between a walk or a dance break, it’s better to do something that actually “makes you smile”.

Rise of Dementia in India

It isn’t just feel-good science. Dementia-related disorders are a growing concern in India. A 2023 study found that 8.8 million Indians over the age of 60 were living with dementia. According to the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), this number is expected to double by 2036 to 16.9 million Indians living with dementia.

Yet, the country remains ill-prepared. Most health and nursing staff lack training in dementia care, and formal support systems are scarce. In a culture like India’s, families are conditioned to care for ageing parents at home; as a result, many often feel burdened by guilt and overwhelmed by the absence of institutional support.

The alarm, however, is not limited to India; countries around the world are witnessing a rise in the condition among the elderly. According to a release by Alzheimer’s Disease International, dementia is “projected to be the third leading cause of death by 2040.”

The Global Action Plan released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) from 2017 to 2025, has been extended by six years till 2031 to care for “more than 55 million people who presently are living with dementia and the 139 million that are forecast to live with the condition by 2050.” 

WHO’s initiative outlines seven action areas: awareness and friendliness; risk reduction; diagnosis, treatment, care and support; information systems; research and innovation; support for carers; and dementia as a public health priority.

(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)