Our Brains on Music and Dance

Have you ever taken a dance class? Maybe it was ballroom dance, ballet, tap or a cardio hip-hop dance class. An article published in the National Library of Medicine asserts that “dance, regardless of its style, can significantly improve muscular strength, endurance, balance and other aspects of functional fitness.” With this newfound knowledge, next time you try a dance class, pay close attention to how you feel afterward. When we dance, it feels good in our bodies, and we may even notice that we feel much sharper mentally. That’s because when we dance, we’re not only doing something positive for our body - we’re doing something positive for our brain, too!

Dancing requires the brain and body to work in sync, strengthening the mind-body connection and in turn, our physical and cognitive health. Dancers recall steps and patterns while simultaneously performing the movements. According to Harvard Medical School, studies have been done to identify regions of the brain that contribute to learning and performing dance. The regions involved include the motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, basal ganglia and cerebellum. In layman’s terms, these regions of the brain are responsible for our voluntary movement, motor control, hand-eye coordination and complex motor actions. There is a lot happening in the brain when we dance! Additionally, further studies have explored the physical and expressive elements of dance and how they change our brain function. The results have

6 Weeks of Summer Camp!

• Ages 4 - 12

½ day and full day options

• Themes include:

• Disney Magic

• Under the Sea

• Toy Story

• Trolls

• Christmas in July Pirate Adventures shown that dance can provide benefits such as memory improvement and strengthened neuronal connections in the brain. In fact, dance has such beneficial effects on the brain that it is suggested that it has been used to treat people with Parkinson’s disease.

To go even further into the effect dance has on our brains, music adds another important layer to the many benefits dancing offers. While you can dance with no music playing, when dance is accompanied by music, the combination can further stimulate the brain and body. In a TEDTalk that emphasizes the benefits of music on the body, Listen For Life founder, Donna Stoering, discusses the physiological changes that happen in our body, mind and emotions when we listen to music. Music has been shown to reduce anxiety, blood pressure and pain while improving our sleep quality, mood, mental alertness and memory. As Stoering highlights in her TEDTalk, “Music is a channel of communication; it isn’t just background noise, or a soundtrack to your workout. It’s much more.” Consider this a sign to bring more song and dance into your life. N S

6 Week Summer Dance Session

June 19 - August 4

by David Linn Cook and Joe Soster Waterproofing One

Basement Structural Repair with Proper Wall Bracing

When an anxious buyer had to forgo the normal home inspection prior to purchase, the young couple did what was necessary and made an offer, which was accepted. The attractive, 40+ yearold frame colonial had recently been rehabbed and sold two years prior, so the first and second floors were in good shape. The basement however was not so. The 12" concrete block foundation had ruptured at the top, corner and center support.

This means that they were not dealing with the usual 8" - 10" cinder block foundation that’s found in most mid-century homes, which get a bow at the middle and pushes inwards 1" - 2". These kinds of horizontal cracks can cause significant damage to the home, as well as unsafe settling of the floors upstairs.

The professional correction was to retrofit the hollow block wall with concrete mortar and steel rods “pinned” from top to bottom, then filled and patched from the inside. This two-day, permanent correction stopped any additional cracks and settlement of the basement wall, which allowed the young couple to quickly pack up and move, as they needed to do after accepting a new position in the area. The young family was able to move in, with no concerns about mold or more wall damage.

Part of the reason for the demise of the home was that it had been a rental property for some time. The homeowners wanted to be sure of not having just a “pretty looking” home, that would then fail due to poor previous maintenance, resulting in a total foundation collapse. If the wall bracing procedure wasn't done, the home would have needed the foundation to be lifted and leveled. Next, the progression would include an exterior dig, so that the foundation drain/rubber wall barrier would stop Hydro-static pressure to the walls.

With proper long-term maintenance, as well as new porous/ self-cleaning gutter guards and the completion of positive grading away from the walls, the belly of the wall would stay flat.

For homes that have older/narrow cinder blocks, a combination of steel/concrete wall pins and the new technology of carbon fiber internal wall bracing is recommended. The strapping of no-flex/ high-strength fiber can be done for both horizontal and vertical cracking, to ensure secure, permanent wall bracing. This treatment would then be covered with waterproofing sealing/stucco for both concrete and block foundations.

Problem found, fixed and forgotten to allow the young homeowners a safe/usable basement den. N S