Dancing For Healthy Old Age

Take your partners for the waltz to wellbeing - that's the suggestion from recent research undertaken at Queen’s University Belfast into the benefits of dancing for older people. For senior members of society who want to stay healthy and get happy, the answer could be on the dance floor, according to a report from the Changing Ageing Partnership (CAP).
 
Dance sessions offer mental, physical and social benefits to older people, it is reported in research undertaken by Dr Jonathan Skinner from Queen’s University Belfast. The results also suggest that dancing discourages illness, and even counteracts decline in ageing.
 
Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the School of History and Anthropology at Queen’s, Jonathan Skinner, studied the effects of social dancing amongst older people in a transatlantic study produced for the Changing Ageing Partnership which investigated older people in Northern Ireland, Blackpool and Sacramento, USA.
 
"I have found that social dancing leads to a continued engagement with life - past, present, and future - and holds the promise for successful ageing,” Dr Skinner said. “It contributes to the longevity of the dancers, giving them something to enjoy and focus upon - to live for.”
 
Besides giving older people a motivation, becoming involved in regular dance sessions can offer significant social and health benefits. “It alleviates social isolation and quite literally helps take away the aches and pains associated with older age, ” said Dr. Skinner. An additional advantage to the activity, which obviously requires people to come closer together, is increasing social harmony in communities where, historically. there may have been differences. “And especially in Northern Ireland, dancing brings people together across communities, creating solidarity, tolerance and understanding."

Certainly, older individuals who regularly participate in such activities provide a convincing example. Sarah, a 70-year-old from Bangor and a regular ice-dancer, who took part in the study has no doubt of its benefits for extending agility. "My daughters brought me down to the ice rink. I have to say, after years of dancing on a Ballroom floor, I was very impressed and skating has great flow and speed.” Sarah said: “I’ve been doing it for twelve years now. We do the rumba, quickstep, foxtrot and tango.”
 
The Changing Ageing Partnership (CAP) was established in December 2005 to improve the quality of life for older people. Funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies for five years, the partnership brings together a variety of organisations with interest in this field: Queen’s University Belfast Workers’, Educational Association, Age Concern Northern Ireland  and Help the Aged. (the last two organisations have recently merged into the single age-related British charity.)
 
These organisations share a vision of together being a strong, informed voice capable of challenging attitudes  and approaches to ageing.  Their goal is:
“to empower older people to transform how they are viewed by sections within our society.  To realise this, the programme will develop a holistic agenda that recognises the multiple realities of older people’s lives alongside issues traditionally associated with older people such as health and social care, economic independence and community safety.”  The recent report on the mential, physical and social benefits of dancing is part of this agenda.
 
Dr Una Lynch, CAP Research Manager at Queen’s said: "Dr Skinner's study is the seventh piece of CAP research to be completed and we are delighted to be involved in a study that challenges stereotypical images of ageing and highlights the fact that healthy ageing can be fun."
 
The researcher, Jonathan Skinner, presented the findings and recommendations of the research at a research launch at the Institute of Governance at Queen’s University Belfast at the beginning of April. Recommendations of the report included the expansion of social dance provision for older people in order to aid successful ageing and help older people enjoy longer and healthier lives.
 
Sarah from Bangor, the 70-year-old ice dancer offers the most compelling evidence. Her enthusiasm is self-evident:  “My instructor even wanted me to compete. My friends have commented that my energy is overwhelming, ‘What’s the secret?’ they ask, and I just say ‘keep dancing’.”

Science Daily