If there’s one thing that most people believe changes with age, it’s memory. Many healthy older adults report that their memory has declined – they forget the names and faces of acquaintances they once knew, they forget why they walked into the garage, or they forget the point they were trying to make in a conversation. These lapses can be embarrassing, and individuals often fear it will impact their work, their reputation, even their independence.

Such memory hiccups aren’t necessarily early signs of dementia or even mild cognitive impairment. They are often just the typical lapses that come with aging. (Do talk about any memory changes with a healthcare professional, however, so you can catch any potential problems early).

The Surprising Memory Cure

If you could do just one thing to stave off normal memory loss, what should it be? Sign up for dance lessons.

Perhaps you’re just as surprised as I was to hear that. But research studies in many countries and cultures have found that dance lessons improve memory in older adults. It doesn’t have to be a particular kind of dance—ballroom, swing, salsa, tango, or line dancing—and it can be solo or with a partner. But going to a class does seem to be important—I haven’t seen any studies that examined septuagenarians dancing at home in their kitchen.

Does it help on Day 1? Probably not. Most published studies that find improvements in memory involve attending a dance class for six months or more. It’s possible that a month of lessons might make a difference, but most studies look at longer stretches.

Like Miracle Gro For Your Brain

Best of all, the neuroscience reveals that you won’t just learn some dance moves that you can do at your granddaughter’s wedding. You’ll actually gain more brain. Researchers have found that dancing increases brain volume through a process called neurogenesis in which you sprout new neurons. One study found that adults ages 60–79 who took up dancing for the first time and kept going to class for six months significantly increased brain mass in a crucial region that sends information from the hippocampus – a brain area that helps you form new memories – to the rest of the brain. Dance is like Miracle Gro for your hippocampus.

The hippocampus is one of the few brain areas that can sprout new neurons in adulthood. Normally, we lose neurons in this region as we age. Unless we do something to stop the shrinking of our brains, even healthy adults lose about 5% of their hippocampus every decade after age 40. But dance classes reverse the problem.

Dance is the Memory Trifecta

It might seem odd that dancing would help, but study after study finds that, at least for older adults, it’s more effective than taking up other exercise routines. Part of it is consistency—people are more likely to keep going to a dance class whereas they might abandon something equally effortful that they do independently—but another part is that it combines physical, mental, and social skills. In a dance class, you have to get your heart pumping, you have to remember the steps, and you have to joke with people you keep bumping into. The title of one research article captures it perfectly: “Dancing combines the essence for successful aging.”

Growing new brain tissue at age 70? Yes, please. Pass me those tap shoes.

Therese Huston, Ph.D., is a cognitive scientist at Seattle University, where she transforms good science into great strategies. She was the founding director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Seattle University and is now a consultant for their Center for Faculty Development. She is the author of Let’s Talk: Make Effective Feedback Your Superpower; How Women Decide; and Teaching What You Don’t Know and has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, TIME, The Guardian, and Harvard Business Review. Her latest book is Sharp: 14 Simple Ways to Improve Your Life with Brain Science (Mayo Clinic Press, April 8, 2025, $26.99). Therese has led workshops and delivered presentations to Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, and universities across the globe. She lives in Seattle with her husband and their dog, who insists on being the real boss of the household.