Dr. Greta Richter, is singing (and dancing) the praises of dance fitness on her brain
Yesterday, Greta came to Mojo after being away for some heavy times. She said she was so elated to be back that it literally made her teary. (So good to get you back, GF!)
Then, unsolicited and very enthusiastically, Greta dropped this beautiful testimonial on us…
I can say 100% that dance fitness has literally made my brain smarter.
I’ve always loved dancing, but for some reason, I could not pick up choreography. A little while back, I decided to give it another try, and took my first dance fitness class. I stood in the back row and stuck with it a little bit. All of the sudden, it clicked. I CAN follow choreography now. I am telling you, this is because of neural pathways in my brain getting stronger. I can try almost any new move. This was never possible before now. It’s exhilarating.
Funny enough, there has been a lot of science buzz lately around movement and neuroplasticity, and I was already planning to write about it this week.
Thanks for the perfect intro, Greta.
Our Aging Brains have not gotten worse, they’ve gotten pickier
Neuroplasticity is our brain’s ability to rewire, adapt, and form new connections. Though it may seem like our brain is slowing down, it doesn’t switch off as we age. What changes is our brain’s threshold.
Our brain is like a muscle that still works, but needs a heavier weight to grow.
Our older brains need a stronger, more varied signal to trigger the same rewiring that used to happen almost automatically. They’re not broken. They just require more interesting input.
Constructing Neural Pathways vs. Maintaining Them
Thinking that weekly crossword puzzle is keeping your brain agile? Think again.
Doing the same thing over and over, even something challenging like a crossword, just reinforces pathways that already exist. It’s like driving the same road every day. The route gets smoother and more automatic. But no new roads get built.
Our brains respond to challenge, not routine.
The moment we ask them to learn something genuinely new, a language, an instrument, or new movement sequence, they have to build something that doesn’t already exist. It’s construction vs. maintenance.
Meet Our Brain’s Construction Crew- BDNF
BDNF stands for “Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor”, a type of protein that acts like a natural fertilizer for our brain.
When our brains have something new to build, they release BDNF to strengthen the synapses, the connection points between neurons, where actual learning takes place.
The more novelty we ask of our brains, the more BDNF, and the more capacity to grow.
The BDNF study everyone is buzzing about…
Researchers compared dance training with standard fitness exercise in adults aged 63 to 80.
The dancers, who had to continuously learn new movement patterns, showed significantly greater increases in gray matter volume and BDNF levels than the exercise group. Both groups were physically active. Both groups moved their bodies and worked up a sweat.
But only one group kept learning. And their brains looked measurably different because of it. Click here to check out the study
A Mojo Class = A Cognitive Feast
Every time you tackle an unfamiliar sequence, your brain is simultaneously managing rhythm, spatial awareness, timing, bilateral coordination, and the social cues of moving in sync with a room full of friends.
It’s like a construction site in our brain. New pathways getting paved, reinforced, rerouted, and connected in real time.
And here’s what newer neuroscience is showing us:
Our brain doesn’t just learn through repetition.
It learns through:
- prediction
- feedback
- attention
- adaptation.
Novelty lights the brain up, stimulating the release of BDNF, which support learning, adaptability, and the formation of stronger neural connections.
In other words: A little confusion is usually a sign the brain is building something new.
When It Finally Clicks
It is our brain building a new route. Like a city adding a brand-new street that suddenly connects everything more smoothly, the brain has created a stronger, faster pathway where one did not exist before. Proof that growth is still happening.
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