By Vanessa Hampton

We talk a lot about strengthening our hearts, our muscles, and our bones — and for good reason. But there’s another system in your body that desperately wants your attention, and most of us never think to train it: your nervous system.

Here’s the exciting news: your brain is not fixed. It doesn’t stop growing or adapting just because you’ve hit a certain age. Scientists call this neuroplasticity — the brain’s remarkable ability to form new connections, rewire itself, and essentially stay younger than your birth certificate suggests. And one of the most powerful ways to stimulate it? Challenging your coordination.

Why Coordination Is a Brain Exercise

When you do something that requires your brain and body to communicate in new or complex ways — think dancing, tai chi, juggling, or even learning a new sport like pickleball — your brain is working overtime in the best possible way. It’s firing neurons across multiple regions simultaneously: balance, timing, spatial awareness, memory, and focus all get recruited at once. That kind of full-brain engagement is something a treadmill simply can’t replicate.

Research backs this up. A landmark study published in the New England Journal of Medicine followed older adults over 21 years and found that frequent dancing was linked to a 76% reduction in dementia risk — the largest risk reduction of any activity studied, physical or cognitive. For comparison, doing crossword puzzles regularly was linked to a 47% reduction, and reading to a 35% reduction — while activities like swimming, bicycling, and golf showed no measurable protective effect at all. Why would dancing outperform even mental puzzles? Because dancing combines physical movement, rhythm, memory (remembering the steps!), and social connection all at once — a true full-brain, full-body workout.

And it’s not just dancing. A well-known brain-imaging study published in Nature found that people who learned to juggle over just a few months showed measurable increases in gray matter in brain regions tied to visual and motion processing — a striking, visible example of the brain physically changing in response to a new coordination challenge.

What This Can Look Like for You

The beautiful thing is that you don’t need to become a juggler or a ballroom dancer to reap the benefits. The key ingredient is novelty and challenge — doing something that makes your brain work a little harder than usual.

Here are some ideas to get started:

• Try a tai chi or qigong class. The slow, intentional movements require deep focus and body awareness, and both are widely available in community centers and online.
• Dance — any style counts. A line dancing class, a ballroom lesson, or even just dancing in your kitchen to your favorite music all stimulate the brain in meaningful ways.
• Learn a new sport or activity. Pickleball, bocce, table tennis — anything with changing movement patterns and reaction time counts.
• Try juggling. Yes, really! Start with scarves, which move slowly, and build from there.
• Shake up your walking route. Walking is wonderful, but walking on uneven terrain, stepping over obstacles, or even walking backward challenges your nervous system in ways a flat sidewalk never will.

Start Simple, Stay Consistent

You don’t need to overhaul your routine overnight. Even 15 to 20 minutes a few times a week of something that genuinely challenges your coordination can make a meaningful difference. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s stimulation. Fumbling through a new dance step or dropping the juggling ball? That’s your brain growing. Embrace it.

This month, challenge yourself to try one new coordination-based activity — a dance class, a pickleball meetup, or even five minutes of juggling scarves in your living room. Look for dance studios, tai chi classes, and pickleball courts near you; Nashville has no shortage of ways to get started. Your muscles will thank you, your balance will thank you, and perhaps most importantly — your brain will thank you.