Dance - health benefits (2024)

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Dance - health benefits? ›

Research from The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition found a weekly dance program can improve adults' physical performance and increase their energy levels. Of course, the faster you dance, the faster your heart will beat, which can lead to a stronger and healthier heart.

Research from The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition found a weekly dance program can improve adults' physical performance and increase their energy levels. Of course, the faster you dance, the faster your heart will beat, which can lead to a stronger and healthier heart.

The two major elements that make dance uniquely powerful are its full use of the person and its ability to serve societies in important ways. Any definition of dance should incorporate both its physical and social cultural functions.

The physical movements of dance have been shown to reduce levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Much like aerobic exercise, dance provides relief from stress and tension. Physical exercise elevates dopamine and endorphins, two neurotransmitters responsible for feelings of pleasure and happiness.

Other studies show that dance helps reduce stress, increases levels of the feel-good hormone serotonin, and helps develop new neural connections, especially in regions involved in executive function, long-term memory, and spatial recognition.

It could protect you from heart disease

Dancers were found to have a 46 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular death, compared with those who rarely or never danced. The study also suggested the social side of dancing, and the relaxation that comes with it, could be partly responsible for its health benefits.

Dancing is an exciting and social way to work out your body. From ballroom to salsa, dancing works your heart, helps build strong bones and muscles, and can improve your balance. Because dancing is so much fun, you may forget you are exercising.

Health benefits of dancing

improved condition of your heart and lungs. increased muscular strength, endurance and motor fitness. increased aerobic fitness. improved muscle tone and strength.

Dancing provides aerobic and anaerobic exercise

As the best form of exercise, dancing gives you both aerobic and anaerobic fitness. With running, you may only target your aerobic. With resistance training, you may only get anaerobic.

Dance has been scientifically proven to reduce levels of cortisol caused by chronic stress. It also causes the brain to release dopamine – a natural mood booster, and endorphins – a natural painkiller. So, although it may seem counter intuitive, this kind of exercise may help you relax!

Is dance a form of therapy? ›

Dance therapy has been used to treat a wide variety of mental health disorders including depression, eating disorders, and PTSD, as well as non-clinical issues such as low self-esteem, body image concerns, or grief.

In fact, many people take dance classes because they put them in a good mood. Ease depression and anxiety. Dance is an effective type of exercise that raises your heart rate and works your muscles. Exercise can help with symptoms of depression and anxiety by releasing certain chemicals in your brain.

Dancing makes people “loosen up” and feel less self-conscious when interacting with others. These benefits can especially help people who suffer from social anxiety. This is why over the years therapists have prescribed dance to people suffering from social anxiety and a fear of public speaking.

The authors concluded that social dancing may be a safe, enjoyable, and effective alternative to traditional physical exercise for preventing cognitive decline and reducing risk for Alzheimer's disease.

It is a highly complex multisensory process. Dancers have a unique ability to visualize movement, time these movements to music and execute many directional and opposing changes at once.

Studies at the University of Maryland in partnership with the University of Houston during the past three years reveal that dancers use multiple areas of their brains simultaneously while dancing: one part controls movement without expressive intention, another part imagines movement qualities and these parts work to ...

Dancing increases cardiovascular endurance because it elevates an individual's breathing and heart rate. After repeated practice, the body learns to adapt to this type of stress. It's why the American Heart Association lists dancing as an example of endurance exercise that can improve heart health.

Dancing is an aerobic activity, which means it will increase your heart rate and your lungs will work a little harder for you not to faint from oxygen deficiency. That is good news because if you keep dancing your heart will get stronger and your lungs will get more efficient.

The endorphins released when you're dancing reduces stress and anxiety, and ultimately gives you a sense of overall well-being. You can feel it for yourself after just one hour of salsa dancing. The dance moves and rhythm relieve you of the pressure and keep your mind relaxed.