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If the postulated basis is correct and acts on a continuum, it wouldn't be a huge leap to think that doing physically challenging outdoor sports that require a

If the postulated basis is correct and acts on a continuum, it wouldn't be a huge leap to think that doing physically challenging outdoor sports that require a high degree of reaction to constantly-changing surroundings would be even better than dancing. Sounds like a case for skiing, mountain biking, climbing, surfing, whitewater kayaking, etc.

codr7 6y ago
Don't forget martial arts. I've had good experiences from teaching Wing Chun to students who practiced dancing and/or (somewhat surprisingly in this context) Yoga before. What dancing and martial arts have in common more than the rest of your list is creativity and two minds working together.
- mtalantikite 6y ago
  Absolutely agree. Before everything shut down I used to practice yoga at a school here in Brooklyn that was very physically demanding and attracted a lot of more advanced practitioners. Most of the advanced students had long histories with dance or martial arts (or both). All of these arts teach increased awareness both physically and mentally, challenges your proprioception, and surprises the body with creative movement. I personally had been looking for a place to practice a martial art to add to my yoga practice, but then covid hit and the city shut down. Hopefully after all this is over though.
  - codr7 6y ago
    I'm far from objective, having practiced and taught Wing Chun for more than 25 years; but from the martial arts I've been in contact with, WC excels at teaching physical and emotional awareness. Cuts both ways, I've been looking for oppurtunities to teach but people are so nervous and spinning now that it's mostly impossible to reach through.
    - nickjj 6y ago
      I didn't read the paper in depth. Is the benefit of dancing from having to remember a series of steps in addition to being physically active? Just asking because a lot of martial arts forms require remembering dozens or even hundreds of specific movements in a specific order.
    - mtalantikite 6y ago
      Well if you know anyone in New York I’d be happy to take a recommendation for a WC teacher. I tested positive for the sars-cov-2 antibodies already, so I’m not as worried about being around people at this point of the pandemic (within reason).
      - codr7 6y ago
        Go for it! Not personally, but I have a rough idea by now about who knows what out there. This looks like a good start to me: https://sifuchowwingchun.com/ https://sifuchowwingchun.com/
        mtalantikite 6y ago
        Thanks!
- cycomanic 6y ago
  I agree with you, in my experience teaching salsa students who had martial arts experience had very good body control and often did much better than others. However one aspect that is missing in martial arts or yoga is musicality, i.e. in addition to synchronising with your own body and a partner you also need to synchronise to the music. This is one aspect that some of the aforementioned students struggled with, if they did not have previous other experience with music.
Priem19 6y ago
“In our view, the more pronounced effects of dancing on the human brain can be explained by the fact that dancing promotes a large number of processes at the same time: spatial orientation, movement coordination, balance, endurance, interaction and communication.” That means I'm golden with skateboarding as well; fantastic.
- cjbenedikt 6y ago
  How about gymnastics?
  - dbcurtis 6y ago
    absolutely. Physical therapists often prescribe gymnastics for kids after they “graduate” from more intense PT.
- burntoutfire 6y ago
  Sound like soccer and other teams sports are also perfect. Sucks that I'm terrible at pretty much all of them...
  - sandworm101 6y ago
    If we are looking at brain effects, the advantages must outweigh the risk of brain injury inherent to the activity. Playing football might help brain plasticity but at considerable risk of brain injuries. Most all the team sports (soccer, lacrosse, hockey etc) have varying degrees of associated brain injury risks, but not dance or other non-competitive sports. At lease when dance (or rock climbing) is competitive the competitors do not share a movement space and so don't knock heads.
    - burntoutfire 6y ago
      There's always volleyball, where competitors don't share the playing space.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
d_silin 6y ago
I love indoor climbing, really makes physical exercize the opposite of boring.
- lowestprimate 6y ago
  Same here. I tell friends climbing is a bit like random yoga with a bunch of problem solving thrown it. Plus it literally self selects for people who you would put your life into their hands.
- biswaroop 6y ago
  Absolutely. I highly recommend going outdoor climbing: the mental aspect is even more intense. A lot of the time is spent route reading and figuring out safety gear, which are mostly cerebral.
elliekelly 6y ago
I was thinking dodgeball, too.
clairity 6y ago
basketball, in normal times. it's easily as engaging and much more accessible relative to those activities, which all require specialized equipment and significant travel for most people. (as the lakers-magic scrimmage game is on in the background... thank goodness the nba is back at least)
idclip 6y ago
I would disagree, dance requires an intimate letting go, while sports is a more mechanical shutting down. Dance is a sort of trance, and requires alot of letting go. Sports has a goal, has focus, its very “in the head” (exceptions do exist ala japanese arts, martial arts comes close but not as it is largely implemented in the west.) Not saying no brain plasticity work takes place, but dance has an active emotional element, a tenderness, which i dont see sports really fulfilling.
- balfirevic 6y ago
  > I would disagree, dance requires an intimate letting go, while sports is a more mechanical shutting down. Dance is a sort of trance, and requires alot of letting go. This is very dance specific (almost anything you can say about dancing will be - since different dances can be as different from each other as curling is from powerlifting). I've been dancing Argentine tango for many years (have also taught it) and, for me, it's very focused and very "in the head" activity. No one could tell from outside, though.
  - cutler 6y ago
    I took-up Argentine Tango after several years of a debillitating back and neurological problem. I'd been going to physios, chiropracters and an Alexander therapist for a long time with no results but as soon as I began to learn tango, along with a regular exercise programme, the problem cleared-up. Even better, my new tango social scene soon became a major source of web dev clients.
    - balfirevic 6y ago
      I'm so glad every time I hear about someone discovering and enjoying tango! Nice to hear that tango helped your back, although I'm a bit surprised as I've found that I need a some back exercise to relieve the stiffness that I get from dancing (although this happens only when dancing for multiple hours a day for several days, as you do on festivals).
  - idclip 6y ago
ComputerGuru 6y ago
One benefit dance has is being low risk, especially for someone that might be in a partially compromised state.
- pizza234 6y ago
  I'd qualify using "lower" rather than "low". There's actually plenty of injury also in dancing, in particular, to knees and backs.
screye 6y ago
Yeah, I wonder if they compared dancing to highly dynamic (non repetitive) sports, then would the results be different. Soccer for instance, demands continuous concentration and is as taxing mentally as it is physically, esp. in certain positions. This seems to be similarly true with sports like hockey, basketball, tennis, etc. Not sure how much of it applies to stop-start sports like baseball, cricket and american football. Climbing requires deliberate control over muscles, breathing, coordination and concentration, in manner that I haven't seen in any physical activity. That being said, looking at some of the dancers I know, dancing can be incredibly physically taxing on its own.
corpMaverick 6y ago
For what is worth. Boxing (without actually being hit) and climbing is practiced as therapy for Parkinson's patients. Probably because they require a lot emphasis on coordination and body awareness in general.
ausbah 6y ago
I'd add trail running to that lisyy

codr7 6y ago

Don't forget martial arts. I've had good experiences from teaching Wing Chun to students who practiced dancing and/or (somewhat surprisingly in this context) Yoga before. What dancing and martial arts have in common more than the rest of your list is creativity and two minds working together.

mtalantikite 6y ago
Absolutely agree. Before everything shut down I used to practice yoga at a school here in Brooklyn that was very physically demanding and attracted a lot of more advanced practitioners. Most of the advanced students had long histories with dance or martial arts (or both). All of these arts teach increased awareness both physically and mentally, challenges your proprioception, and surprises the body with creative movement. I personally had been looking for a place to practice a martial art to add to my yoga practice, but then covid hit and the city shut down. Hopefully after all this is over though.
- codr7 6y ago
  I'm far from objective, having practiced and taught Wing Chun for more than 25 years; but from the martial arts I've been in contact with, WC excels at teaching physical and emotional awareness. Cuts both ways, I've been looking for oppurtunities to teach but people are so nervous and spinning now that it's mostly impossible to reach through.
  - nickjj 6y ago
    I didn't read the paper in depth. Is the benefit of dancing from having to remember a series of steps in addition to being physically active? Just asking because a lot of martial arts forms require remembering dozens or even hundreds of specific movements in a specific order.
  - mtalantikite 6y ago
    Well if you know anyone in New York I’d be happy to take a recommendation for a WC teacher. I tested positive for the sars-cov-2 antibodies already, so I’m not as worried about being around people at this point of the pandemic (within reason).
    - codr7 6y ago
      Go for it! Not personally, but I have a rough idea by now about who knows what out there. This looks like a good start to me: https://sifuchowwingchun.com/ https://sifuchowwingchun.com/
      - mtalantikite 6y ago
        Thanks!
cycomanic 6y ago
I agree with you, in my experience teaching salsa students who had martial arts experience had very good body control and often did much better than others. However one aspect that is missing in martial arts or yoga is musicality, i.e. in addition to synchronising with your own body and a partner you also need to synchronise to the music. This is one aspect that some of the aforementioned students struggled with, if they did not have previous other experience with music.

Priem19 6y ago

“In our view, the more pronounced effects of dancing on the human brain can be explained by the fact that dancing promotes a large number of processes at the same time: spatial orientation, movement coordination, balance, endurance, interaction and communication.” That means I'm golden with skateboarding as well; fantastic.

cjbenedikt 6y ago
How about gymnastics?
- dbcurtis 6y ago
  absolutely. Physical therapists often prescribe gymnastics for kids after they “graduate” from more intense PT.
burntoutfire 6y ago
Sound like soccer and other teams sports are also perfect. Sucks that I'm terrible at pretty much all of them...
- sandworm101 6y ago
  If we are looking at brain effects, the advantages must outweigh the risk of brain injury inherent to the activity. Playing football might help brain plasticity but at considerable risk of brain injuries. Most all the team sports (soccer, lacrosse, hockey etc) have varying degrees of associated brain injury risks, but not dance or other non-competitive sports. At lease when dance (or rock climbing) is competitive the competitors do not share a movement space and so don't knock heads.
  - burntoutfire 6y ago
    There's always volleyball, where competitors don't share the playing space.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

d_silin 6y ago

I love indoor climbing, really makes physical exercize the opposite of boring.

lowestprimate 6y ago
Same here. I tell friends climbing is a bit like random yoga with a bunch of problem solving thrown it. Plus it literally self selects for people who you would put your life into their hands.
biswaroop 6y ago
Absolutely. I highly recommend going outdoor climbing: the mental aspect is even more intense. A lot of the time is spent route reading and figuring out safety gear, which are mostly cerebral.

elliekelly 6y ago

I was thinking dodgeball, too.

clairity 6y ago

basketball, in normal times. it's easily as engaging and much more accessible relative to those activities, which all require specialized equipment and significant travel for most people. (as the lakers-magic scrimmage game is on in the background... thank goodness the nba is back at least)

idclip 6y ago

I would disagree, dance requires an intimate letting go, while sports is a more mechanical shutting down. Dance is a sort of trance, and requires alot of letting go. Sports has a goal, has focus, its very “in the head” (exceptions do exist ala japanese arts, martial arts comes close but not as it is largely implemented in the west.) Not saying no brain plasticity work takes place, but dance has an active emotional element, a tenderness, which i dont see sports really fulfilling.

balfirevic 6y ago
> I would disagree, dance requires an intimate letting go, while sports is a more mechanical shutting down. Dance is a sort of trance, and requires alot of letting go. This is very dance specific (almost anything you can say about dancing will be - since different dances can be as different from each other as curling is from powerlifting). I've been dancing Argentine tango for many years (have also taught it) and, for me, it's very focused and very "in the head" activity. No one could tell from outside, though.
- cutler 6y ago
  I took-up Argentine Tango after several years of a debillitating back and neurological problem. I'd been going to physios, chiropracters and an Alexander therapist for a long time with no results but as soon as I began to learn tango, along with a regular exercise programme, the problem cleared-up. Even better, my new tango social scene soon became a major source of web dev clients.
  - balfirevic 6y ago
    I'm so glad every time I hear about someone discovering and enjoying tango! Nice to hear that tango helped your back, although I'm a bit surprised as I've found that I need a some back exercise to relieve the stiffness that I get from dancing (although this happens only when dancing for multiple hours a day for several days, as you do on festivals).
- idclip 6y ago

ComputerGuru 6y ago

One benefit dance has is being low risk, especially for someone that might be in a partially compromised state.

pizza234 6y ago
I'd qualify using "lower" rather than "low". There's actually plenty of injury also in dancing, in particular, to knees and backs.

screye 6y ago

Yeah, I wonder if they compared dancing to highly dynamic (non repetitive) sports, then would the results be different. Soccer for instance, demands continuous concentration and is as taxing mentally as it is physically, esp. in certain positions. This seems to be similarly true with sports like hockey, basketball, tennis, etc. Not sure how much of it applies to stop-start sports like baseball, cricket and american football. Climbing requires deliberate control over muscles, breathing, coordination and concentration, in manner that I haven't seen in any physical activity. That being said, looking at some of the dancers I know, dancing can be incredibly physically taxing on its own.

corpMaverick 6y ago

For what is worth. Boxing (without actually being hit) and climbing is practiced as therapy for Parkinson's patients. Probably because they require a lot emphasis on coordination and body awareness in general.

ausbah 6y ago

I'd add trail running to that lisyy