Shared from brainandlife.org.
By the time Bette Loomis was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in 2015, she had been experiencing considerable forgetfulness and getting lost in familiar places for nearly two years. Her doctor prescribed galantamine, a medication used to treat cognitive decline, which she still takes. In 2023, at the suggestion of her nurse practitioner, Loomis decided to try an unusual intervention: She joined a study at Emory University in Atlanta that was investigating the effects of adapted Argentine tango on older adults with neurologic disorders. Three times a week, Loomis participated in tango classes that included Emory students as well as older adults; the program lasted a year—and Loomis loved it.
“Trying to remember the steps was tricky, but a lot of times the Emory kids had trouble too,” says Loomis, 79, a retired nurse practitioner who lives in Atlanta. “It was invigorating, and it helped my memory, coordination, movement, and balance. It made me feel mentally sharper, and it made me happy.” After the yearlong tango program ended, Loomis’ scores on cognition tests went up considerably.
