Newsbriefs: Heart Attack Survivors; Dancing
Heart Attack Survivors Are Skipping Cardiac Rehab
Cardiac rehabilitation—comprising medically supervised education, counseling, and physical fitness training—is recommended after a heart attack. Yet many Americans who survive heart attacks don’t take part in cardiac rehabilitation afterwards, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Researchers writing in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Aug. 25, analyzed health survey data from 2013 and 2015. In 2013, just 33.7 percent of 9,490 heart attack survivors entered cardiac rehabilitation after leaving the hospital, and in 2015, the number was only slightly higher, at 35.5 percent. If you opt out of your local program, discuss with your doctor the nutrition and fitness choices that can help preserve your heart health.
Put on Your Dancing Shoes!
A recent small study (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, June 15) suggests that older people who routinely partake in physical exercise may derive benefits in an area of the brain linked to the memory—and dancing has the most profound effect. The study included 52 seniors who were assigned to either an 18-month weekly course of learning different dance routines, or endurance and flexibility training. At the end of the study, both groups showed an increase in the hippocampus region of the brain, which plays a key role in memory and learning, and is prone to age-related decline and the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Participants in the dance group had increases in volume in more areas of the hippocampus, and in an area involved in the formation of new memories (one of the first casualties of dementia—see our article on page 7 for more). Since none of the study participants were cognitively impaired, we don’t know if dancing mitigates dementia—but it is an enjoyable form of exercise that also provides social interaction. Check for dance sessions at your local senior center.
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