Elderly!
Yes, here is another reason to dance, according to Kyodo News:
Tango therapy helping seniors keep fit, alert
Kyodo
With more people living well into their 80s and beyond, the problem of how to stay fit, alert and happy for as long as possible in their golden years has become important for both seniors and their caregivers.
Across the country, some nursing homes have introduced "tango therapy" to their residents and have achieved great success because the Argentine dance has an amazing effect of reinvigorating both body and mind.
According to some theories, dancing is good for senile people and those afflicted with Parkinson's disease. The quickening of the heartbeat that occurs in close contact with a dancing partner also apparently helps rejuvenate senior women.
One day at the Aioi no Sato nursing home in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, tango instructor Enrique Morales, 28, took Kiyoko Kinoshita's hands and the diminutive 96-year-old resident sprang out of her wheelchair. She is dead serious as she dances across the floor with the tall Argentine leading the way.
Dancing has been her passion since she was a young girl. "I feel much more than just good when I'm dancing," says Kinoshita. "I simply get carried away."
Another female resident, 84, also dances, although she spends most of her time in bed. "Things are quite different when I dance. Even in old age, I get quite excited when I hold the hands of a male partner."
The nursing home added Argentine tango to the list of recreational activities for its residents early last year. Seniors who usually refused to walk got on their feet, and the senile residents started to smile more often, according to caregivers at the facility.
2011年10月6日木曜日
2007年10月29日月曜日
Okinawa Longevity
Japanese people have what is probably the world’s longest natural life span. On average, someone born and raised in Japan will live to 82. This compares well to, say, the US average longevity of 77. Moreover, the people in Japan with the greatest probability for long and healthy lives live in Okinawa.
How cool is that?
One conjecture is that island life is so much fun that Okinawans don’t want to leave. They have family. They have friends. They let the good times roll. Another is that they get lots of exercise. They walk and do their errands on foot. They raise their own vegetables and work in their gardens.
I know of at least one Okinawan great-grandmother who offered her visiting family a fruit called tan-kan, which is a little like a tangerine. One guest offered to go into the kitchen and bring the tan-kan out for her. Great Granny, in her 90s, insisted on getting it herself. But the fruit wasn’t in the kitchen. It was still on the tree in her backyard. She climbed the tree and picked a dozen tankan while the family cheered her on.
The Okinawan diet, too, gets a lot of credit for the people’s longevity. There is a longevity story that I am very curious about, and it concerns an expedition from China made in ancient days to “The Land of the Immortals” to acquire “the fruit of eternal life”. No one knows for sure where that land was, or what the fruit was, but I often think it was Okinawa and the fruit was something like a tan-kan.
How cool is that?
One conjecture is that island life is so much fun that Okinawans don’t want to leave. They have family. They have friends. They let the good times roll. Another is that they get lots of exercise. They walk and do their errands on foot. They raise their own vegetables and work in their gardens.
I know of at least one Okinawan great-grandmother who offered her visiting family a fruit called tan-kan, which is a little like a tangerine. One guest offered to go into the kitchen and bring the tan-kan out for her. Great Granny, in her 90s, insisted on getting it herself. But the fruit wasn’t in the kitchen. It was still on the tree in her backyard. She climbed the tree and picked a dozen tankan while the family cheered her on.
The Okinawan diet, too, gets a lot of credit for the people’s longevity. There is a longevity story that I am very curious about, and it concerns an expedition from China made in ancient days to “The Land of the Immortals” to acquire “the fruit of eternal life”. No one knows for sure where that land was, or what the fruit was, but I often think it was Okinawa and the fruit was something like a tan-kan.
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