Dancing reduces Depression and improves Cognition

Abstract Background: Environmental enrichment (EE) is an inducer of neural/behavioral plasticity and therefore generates positive impacts in terms of memory and learning, even in aged organisms. Objective: Taking dance as an EE model, this research aimed to investigate its impact on the reduction of symptoms of depression and improvement of cognition in the institutionalized elderly. Methods: A protocol involving dance activities in two phases was applied. In the first, a baseline for depression was established through the application of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and a baseline for cognitive decline using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and, in the second phase, applied to a sample of 20 institutionalized elderly, a protocol with dance. Twenty sessions were performed over a period of 6 months, with an average duration of 1h30min. In the end, the instruments (GDS and MMSE) were again applied in order to measure the effect of the intervention. Results: The effect size calculated by Cohen's d for depression was large (CI = 95%: 0.75 to 1.99, d = 1.38) as well as the effect size for cognitive impairment (CI = 95%: -1.51 to -0, 43, d = -0.98). Conclusion: Therefore, dance generates positive impacts in terms of cognition of depression and, thus, can be used as a strategy of ES inducing plasticity. Keywords: Aging, Environmental Enrichment, Plasticity, Dance, Depression, Cognitive Decline.