Learn about the 4 benefits of dancing
1. Dance your way to fitness
Dancing is a great cardio workout that contributes to improving cardiovascular health. Continuous movement during high-intensity dance workout speeds up the heartbeat and blood flow, enhancing overall cardiovascular function and increasing aerobic capacity.
By maintaining a healthy body and slim shape you get not only good physical performance but also strong and flexible muscles. In this way, dancing serves as a fitness workout. We recommend combining it with other activities than improve body strength (gym, Pilates) or flexibility (stretching, yoga). Fitness enthusiasts focusing on strength training will be happy to learn that dancing can be a great alternative to aerobic workouts on cardio machines (e.g. treadmill).
2. Dance to destress and level up your mental health
Dancing is an excellent way to reduce stress levels. Energetic movements to the rhythm of music improve the mood and help ease away emotional tension by stimulating the release of endorphins, our natural ‘happy hormones’.
You don’t have to go to a club to have some dancing fun: you can dance alone, in the comfort of your home, and enjoy a wealth of positive results. However, participating in group dance activities can provide an added benefit in terms of a feel-good boost. By attending dancing classes, you get more motivated (for example by watching others) and have a sense of belonging to a group of people with shared interests. In addition, dancing classes offer an opportunity for social interactions, which can give a boost to your mental health and well-being. Such interactions often move outside the gym and may even evolve into friendships. In this way, you overcome the sense of isolation that can lead to the development of mental disorders, including depression.
Surprisingly, dancing can also serve as a form of meditation or mindfulness practice. It requires focusing attention on several elements at once: music, choreography, and body movements. In this way, it helps you to be present ‘here and now’ and takes you away for a while from the worries of everyday life.
Other strategies to combat chronic stress are described HERE.
3. Improved coordination and balance, and healthy brain
Dance is an excellent way to enhance coordination and balance, which contributes to an improvement in overall fitness – not only physically, but also mentally.
Dancing spurs the nervous system into action by forcing you to memorize the sequence of movements and focus on the harmony of motion and the rhythm of the music. This improves cognitive function and reduces the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.
Importantly, in addition to protecting against such diseases, dance proves to be an effective part of their treatment. Dancing has been shown to improve cognitive function, motor control, balance, and quality of life in patients with Parkinson’s disease.
4. Dance your way to a healthy heart and long life
Cardiovascular diseases have been the leading cause of death in developed countries for many years. Can dancing help fix the situation?
In 2016, a 14-year study involving nearly 50,000 adults over the age of 40 was published, showing that the people who participate in dancing almost halve (i.e. reduce by 49%) their risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases compared to those who did not dance.
Interestingly, the link was found to be independent of other factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, level of education, physical activity, and smoking status.
Dance – a universally accessible physical activity
Dancing is an enjoyable and effective way to boost your physical and mental health. It can be done virtually anywhere, and doesn’t require any special infrastructure or equipment. You can sign up for classes at a dance school or in your fitness club – or dance in the comfort of your home. Dancing is suitable for people of all ages, shapes and sizes who want to add more physical activity into their daily life and feel better throughout the day.
Dance classes are especially appealing to those who are not very keen on traditional sports – or those seeking to incorporate a creative element into their training regimen to express themselves better and experience their body in a more profound way. Everybody should embrace dancing – in all its shapes and forms – as an intrinsic part of a healthy lifestyle.
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References:
1. Aliberti S., Raiola G., Effects of Line Dancing on Mental Health in Seniors after COVID-19 Pandemic. Educ. Sci. 2021, 11, 677.
2. Millman, L. S. Merritt & Terhune, Devin & Hunter, Elaine & Orgs, Guido. (2020). Towards a neurocognitive approach to Dance Movement Therapy for mental health: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy.
3. Merom D., Ding D., Stamatakis E., Dancing Participation and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: A Pooled Analysis of 11 Population-Based British Cohorts. Am J Prev Med. 2016.