Dancing is a wonderful way to improve fitness, regardless of whether you are an elegant ballerina or a classical danseuse. The blend of physical workout, mental concentration and social interactions associated with music has been a means of relieving stress, increasing energy and improving focus and concentration since times immemorial. Research on the benefits of dancing is starting to grow by leaps and bounds. There are many health benefits of dancing. Each of these is detailed below.
Health Benefits of Dance
#1 Strength and Endurance
Dancing contributes to muscle strength by enabling the muscles to work against the dancer’s body weight while jumping as well as leaping require tremendous strength of massive leg muscles. Developing endurance and stamina also enables the body to dance for longer and improves energy levels. Strength is the capacity of the muscle to exert forces against resistance. Dancing builds strength whether its jazz or ballet. Ballroom dancing is great for the muscles too, when it comes to a workout.
Consequently, endurance also grows. Endurance is the means of making muscles work hard for more periods of time without incurring fatigue. Constant dancing is necessary for boosting endurance especially vigorous routines like line and ballroom dancing. Raising the heart rate boosts stamina.
#2 Flexibility and Confidence
Another benefit is the dance classes involve a warm-up that includes stretches. Flexibility is a critical part of being healthy. Dancing also contributes to positive mood states and greater confidence, promoting a healthy mind in a healthy body. Flexibility too is an important part of being healthy. A full range of motions for varied muscle groups are offered by dancers. The wider the range of motion, the more muscles can extend and flex. Most dancers perform moves that require stretching and bending, so dancers gain flexibility by dancing.
#3 A Social Activity That Builds Self Esteem
Dancing is a sociable activity which involves boosting self-esteem and a positive outlook. Dancing also builds social skills and lowers stress and tension, offering a sense of well-being. Coping effectively with life situations can enhance well-being.
#4 Improved Levels of Fitness
Dancing offers a wide range of benefits when it comes to fitness levels. This comprises coordination, flexibility, strength, aerobic fitness, flexibility and spatial awareness along with coordination, endurance, and stamina. Different kinds of dancing routines offer a way to boost energy levels, allowing better work performance.
#5 Improved Mental Health and Mood
Dancing offers many psychological benefits as well such as improved self-esteem, enhanced mood, and better social skills. Complex coordination on mental and physical level boosts memory as well as brain function. This prevents the development of dementia as the body ages. Natural, feel-good endorphins are released that help in releasing stress and countering depression besides combating psychological illnesses.
Dancing is vital for improving social skills in a group setting or for a dancing couple. Social bonding is also a result of the improved health and mood.
#6 Reverse Aging
Dancing also helps in maintaining the youthfulness of the body. It prevents aging and benefits the lung, cardiovascular system and heart. Exerting the muscles and using complex breathing, the dancers can display the fitness and physical prowess of Olympic level athletes.
#7 Strong Bone Density, Lubrication in Joints
Dancing aids in the preventing and treating osteoporosis for women and men. Women, especially during the post menopause period, experience a significant fall in estrogen levels stopping calcium from being absorbed into the bone. To keep joints lubricated, dancing is what works to prevent arthritis.
#8 Burning Calories
Dance is a form of exercise which enhances the functioning of the circulatory system. This burns calories and enhances the stamina. Dancing burns five to ten calories in a minute depending on intensity and speed. The swing and the mambo burn more calories. But even a slow waltz can burn a certain amount of calories.
#9 Better Circulation
Research has shown that both good and bad cholesterol play a role in health. Dancing offers lipid control raising the HDL while lowering LDL levels. Dancing is wonderful for diabetics as it aids in blood glucose control.
#10 Mastery of Mental Faculties
Dance enhances the memory by helping people to recall steps, patters and dance routines making it ideal exercise for the brain. This increases the mental exercise and stimulates your mind to remain young, quick and alert.
#11 Improve Balance and Coordination
Balancing one’s self in a certain position requires practice and muscular coordination. Dancers have developed the ability to hold various positions. Dance consequently makes stabilizer muscles strong. It protects the core and prevents less injury in every day life. Dancing also aids in coordination and strengthens the reflexes. It ensures that the CNS and PNS remain in excellent shape by connecting the mind and the body.
#12 Weight Loss
If you need a way to lose weight that is fun-filled, dance is the best option. Losing weight can be tough because you need to cut down on calories. Many people try different kinds of diets and training regimes to push themselves to lose weight. Invariably, they end up failing to lose weight. An alternative outcome that offers the opportunity for weight loss, dancing is fun-filled and you lose weight on a faster and steadier rate. People may struggle with weight loss programs, but a dance class is just what you need to develop toned and fit physiques.
#13 Muscle Tone
Dancing is needed for continuous fast-paced exertion that utilizes different muscles in your body. Additionally, it provides a complete cardio workout. Difficult postures, jumps that strengthen muscles through resistance and additional muscle tone offer benefits. Toning helps to accelerate weight loss. Many people try to lose weight without focusing on building muscle. Dancing involves toning the muscles and may even burn more calories than strenuous cardio workouts like running or jogging.
#14 Positive Posture
Bad posture can be damaging for health. Working at the computer for long periods of time weakens the spine and leaves the shoulders rounded and hunched. This damages the spine and causes back pain. It also increases stress, prevents properties breathing and negatively impacts confidence. Good posture is a prerequisite for dancers. This can impact your natural seating position and offer healthy musculature, improving breathing ease and stopping backache.
#15 Kinesthetic Awareness
This is the body awareness that estimates how to move your body in space in a given time. This pertains to balance but also spatial agility and awareness. Dancing requires consciousness of the entire body while pulling off physically tough moves. So your spatial awareness is enhanced as a result of this.
#16 Uplift the Mood
Dancing is a wonderful way to boost the mood and health benefits do not end there. Like any other exercise, it helps produce endorphins and other natural anti-depressants besides leaving you looking toned, fit and athletic.
#17 Toning the Muscles
Another great benefit of dancing is the development of strength and muscle definition. So as you dance to explore new levels of body strength, muscle building results. This requires a great deal of strength and toned legs. As dancing is a weight resistance activity, it guards against bone diseases and speeds up knee recovery. It also promotes less chances of exercise related injuries and increases your physical capacity for exercise.
#18 Combats Dementia
Another benefit of dancing such as ballroom and other forms of social dancing is that this can prevent dementia onset in elderly individuals. Dance improves cognitive domains such as spatial memory vital for learning dance. A healthy lifestyle along with dancing is just what you need to keep Alzheimer’s at bay.
#19 Burn Fat
Apart from cutting calories, the low impact aerobic actions characteristic of dancing boost the metabolic rate. With just 30 minutes of dancing, you can burn 200 to 400 calories. Lose a few pounds in a week by just dancing.
#20 Good for Heart Health
Engaging in cardio or aerobic activity can boost heart health, lower overweight tendencies and cut the risk of type 2 diabetes. It also promotes lung capacity. This full conditioning benefits dancers who regularly engage in this activity at least 4 days in a week for half an hour.
#21 Boosts Cognitive Functioning
Recent research claims dancing makes you smart. Regular dancing increases cognitive functionality at any age. Senior citizens or young people, dancing is the sure fire way to remain nimble at any age. It helps to move the hand and feet move better because rhythm is used while dancing.
#22 Lower Stress
Stress is encountered on a daily basis and dancing is the way to reduce it. Move in a steady rhythm and reduce stress. Dancing also ensures that the body movements are stable and it cuts down on anxiety and worries through the release of positive endorphins.
#23 Increase Agility
Ability to move and turn with ease is agility, and dancing inculcates this in plenty. Dancers move quickly when needed and this includes both mental and physical agility. Footwork balance and coordination play an important role in getting the dance moves right.
#24 Improve Memory
Enhancing the memory is also a positive health benefit of dancing. Dances require people to remember routines and specific movements contributing to a boost in the overall memory. Dancers have been found to have other cognitive abilities such as mentally rotating items faster. Spatial skills along with a healthy heart and plenty of energy are just some of the other benefits of dancing.
#25 Boosts the Immunity
Scientists have found that listening to dance music and participating in a routine raises the antibodies in the human body and stress hormones also lower after listening to certain kinds of music. Cortisol which is a stress hormone lowered considerably in those who engaged in dance moves.
#26 Lowers Hypertension and BP
Dancing is a wonderful way to lower the blood pressure and reduce cholesterol. Lowering the BP helps to prevent cardiovascular disorders and heart diseases as well. High blood pressure is a leading cause of stroke.
#27 Reduce Arthritis Pain
People suffering from arthritis can also benefit from gentle dance moves. Regular movement ensures the joints don’t stiffen or become sore. Muscles get used through gentle routines like waltz and ballroom dancing, saving off bone and joint pain.
#28 Enhances Lung Functioning
If there is lung disease or a problem in breathing, choose a style of dance appropriate for your condition and let those limbs move. Check with your doctor and build your endurance with dancing. Breathing right is an important part of dancing and this enhances lung function too.
#29 Improves Sleep Quality
Frequently dancing can help people sleep better and more soundly. If you have difficulty sleeping during the night, regular dancing can alleviate the issue.
#30 Lower Obesity
Dancing reduces obesity as it helps to lower the weight. If you are obese, a slower pace of dancing may suit. As you lose weight, you can increase the intensity and speed of the dance over time. For example, Zumba improves the metabolism and lowers obesity. The steps have a rhythm that makes them easy to follow.
#31 Increase Metabolism
Dancing increases the metabolic rate. This is vital for weight loss. By increasing the activities of the body, more calories are burnt. This increase turns into sizable weight loss. Generally, the metabolic rate of your body will also increase everyday with dancing. When a dance program commences, more calories are burnt when one is sleeping than before. Burn more calories by moving your body at a higher speed.
#32 Prevents Acid Reflux
Dancing promotes good digestion. it reduces the episodes experienced when acid reflux strikes. Dancing is perfect for those with dyspepsia and intense GI problems.
#33 Counter Restless Leg Syndrome
Restless leg syndrome is a real problem which can be reduced by dancing. This demands the use of leg muscles and helps to relax them when not active. Once the dance classes start, or the routine is followed, this will counter the syndrome’s symptoms.
#34 Reduce Menopause Symptoms
If you are suffering menopause, tiredness and fatigue are common. So are hot flashes. Exercise is helpful for keeping menopausal symptoms away. A dance class needs to be added to the exercise program and helps create muscle mass, burning calories and ensuring more agility.
Conclusion
So dancing is a route towards maintaining good health. If you enjoy dancing, additionally, the process of bolstering the mood, enhancing muscle tone and increasing the metabolic rate that accompanies the jive or the tango can have a lot of benefits too. Dance your way to good health and enjoy the activity while you’re at it. Few other exercises are as enjoyable as dancing. But a dance routine can be so much more than a workout. It energizes the mind, stimulates the creativity and helps you to attain a sound mind, body, and soul.