Dancing is a great way to get exercise and stay in shape. It is more fun than simply going to an exercise class. It provides a more sociable way to get active, especially if you are doing couples dancing. Many dance schools and community organizations offer dancing lessons, A class could be a fun way to improve your overall health. Here are some of the many benefits associated with dancing.
Become More Flexible
Dancing requires flexibility, so if you don’t have it, after a bit of time, you will become more flexible. Whether you are taking a dance class or just going to a dance club on a regular basis, you will develop more flexible moves. Flexibility in dancing will involve all your muscle groups. As you learn more dance types, you will use different muscle groups, making a major improvement in your overall ability to be flexible in your everyday life. Dancing will require you to stretch and bend in ways you do not normally do, so you will be amazed at the change in your range of motion.
Many people have jobs where they sit for several hours a day, at desks or at computer terminals. Sitting for long periods of time, can lead to stiffness in the joints and cause pain when you do try to move. Dancing on a frequent basis, will increase your overall flexibility, which can reverse some of the damage done from sitting. Increasing your flexibility with dancing, will keep your arms and legs limber and allow you to move more freely without pain.
Improves Strength
Dancing can help to improve your body’s overall strength because some of the moves are against your own body weight. Depending on the style of dancing you are doing, you may have to jump or twist in ways that require major strength in the legs. Ballroom dancing requires hopping, jumping and sometimes running. If a male dancer lifts his partner, he will develop strength in his legs and arms.
Increases Endurance
In addition to building strength while dancing, you will definitely build your physical endurance. Most dances are continuous motion until the music stops. Endurance is the ability to keep moving and using your muscles for longer periods of time, Dancing increases the heart rate, increasing your stamina and endurance over a period of time. If you dance on a regular basis, you will notice that you are able to dance for a longer period of time each time you do it.
Improves Sense of Well-Being
Since dancing is a social activity, it can improve your overall sense of well-being. You are not isolated with this form of exercise. You may be in a dance class or at a dance club or social dance. Wherever it is, there are likely to be other people involves. Having a social connection with other people, is a very healthy thing to be involved in. It helps improve your confidence and reduces tension.
Makes You Smarter
Believe it or not, recent research claims that dancing can make you smarter. Regular dancing has been shown to help keep Alzheimer’s at bay. It increases cognitive functioning at all ages. A study done by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, shows that most activities, undertaken by senior citizens, over the age of 75, had no impact on their getting dementia. The only activity to help prevent dementia was frequent dancing.
Dancing can train our brains not to get dizzy. Dancing in a social setting helps the brain release endorphins, which make you feel good. Over and over again, study after study shows that frequent dancing can improve on the functioning of the brain, more so than any other activity.
Keeps you Nimble
Dancing will help you stay nimble and be able to move in a lot of different ways. It will make your feet move better because you have to use them in a rhythm while dancing, so you will be able to use them more in your day-to-day activities as well. You use your hands more when dancing as well. This makes it easier to use them more nimbly as well.
Reduces Stress
Stress is something we all encounter on a regular basis, and dancing is a great way to reduce stress. It allows you to move to a steady rhythm and focus on staying in step so that you can forget about day to day problems for a period of time. Dancing with a partner or a group, helps reduce stress, because you are interacting with other people.
Helps with Weight Loss
If you are overweight, dancing is a good way to lose weight. It provides a low-impact way to raise your heart rate for a period of time and increase your metabolism at the same time. This allows your body to burn more calories and reduce weight. If you dance frequently, it will help your body burn calories even while you are not dancing. It simply will increase the amount of calories your body burns on an ongoing basis.
Dances that move your whole body are the best for weight loss. Dances that require you to keep your arms up while moving your feet are good for weight loss. If you have your feet shoulder width apart, and use your arms in a twisting motion you will get good results. Remember the old dance “the Twist”? Maybe you have to be a bit older to remember that.
Improves Overall Stability
Dancing makes the body’s movements more stable. It has been known to reduce dizziness when people stand up too quickly. If you trip quite a bit when walking, you will notice a reduction after you have been dancing on a regular basis for a while. This is especially true for elderly people. Sometimes as we age, we think we must slow down and rest more. If you do this too much you will lose your balance more and be more prone to falling, Dancing can help improve your stability on your feet.
Increases Agility
Agility is the ability to turn and move quickly when necessary. Since dancing requires specific moves and quickness, it helps a person develop more agility. They can move more quickly when needed. This agility includes both physical and mental agility. It used to be thought that dancing was a girl’s activity. Now big hulking football players take dance classes because it improves their footwork, balance and agility on the field. Some of the greatest athletes use dance classes to make them great sports players because they can move quickly with ease.
Improves Memory
Another benefit of frequent dancing is that is helps improve your memory. This goes along with brain improvement, but because dance requires a person to remember specific moves and timing of the moves, overall memory is also improved.
Cognitive Improvement
A recent study claims that gaining experience in hip hop dance has shown an improvement in some cognitive skills. It claims that developing expertise in a certain activity like hip hop, can increase the brain’s cognitive abilities. When the research was completed, it showed that dancers were able to mentally rotate faster, which translated into scientific and technology field, leading to improvements in these skills, from the skills learned in dancing.
Fights Depression
Dancing helps fight depression in several ways. First it helps you get moving and stirs up the endorphins in your brain, which help you feel better. If you dance in a social setting, you will be around other people which can also help reduce depression. Strengthening your muscles and shedding a few pounds, will also help with how well you feel.
Healthy Heart
Exercise in general is good for your heart. A recent report suggests that dancing regularly, can lower the risk of heart disease. Not only does dancing help keep your heart healthy, it is fun as well. A 10-year study in the UK showed that people who with medium intensity had a lower risk of heart problems. The study showed dancers had a slightly lower risk of cardiac disease than those who walked for exercise.
Increases Energy
Do you ever feel like you have no energy, no matter what you do? If so, get out your dancing shoes and hit the dance floor. Any exercise is good for increasing your energy, but dancing is also fun and socially helpful. You can do it at any level of intensity you prefer. If will get you feeling less sluggish and like getting out of the house a few times a week.
Improve Social Skills
Dancing at a club or in a dance class will help you improve your social skills, which will help you feel better in general. Being sociable is a healthy aspect of everyone’s life. Being alone too often can lead to many health problems.
Make Friends
Dancing, especially at a club will help you make new friends. Even taking a dance class can help you meet new people. The more friends you have, the more activities you will be involved with in general, which can lead to overall well-being,
Promotes Strength
The physical requirements of dancing will push your body when you first get started. You may find that you get winded easily. However, after awhile you will realize that you are able to dance for longer periods of time without a break, because you are building up your strengthen. Your legs will be stronger, your arms and even your lungs will be stronger. Your whole body will gain strength from the motion you are experiencing over and over with dance.
The core of your body is your center of gravity. Many claim that movement begins in the core. It stabilities the legs allowing for easier movement. Dancing helps build core strength, making movement easier and smoother. This especially true for ballet dancing, It is also true for people who dance regularly. Dancing will build up the strength you have in the core of your body.
Increases Endurance
Endurance is the amount of time you can stay active without a break. For runners, it can allow for marathons instead of just short races. Dancing helps increase your body’s endurance, while you are having fun. If you are dancing with a partner or dancing with a group, you will notice over time, that you are able to dance for longer periods of time. This is because your endurance is increasing. Each time you dance, just push yourself to stay active for a little bit longer. Before you know it, you will be on the dance floor until the last song is played.
Increases Sense of Well-being
Many people report that just listening to the music and becoming a part of it gives them a feeling of well-being. Since you will usually be around other people and in a social setting while dancing, you will experience a feeling of social well-being, Spending time with other people usually helps produce good feelings.
Fun and enjoyable
Dancing can be fun and enjoyable when because of the social interaction, it usually involves. Whether you are doing line dancing, partners dancing or just club dancing the music and swing of the experience is usually an extremely enjoyable experience.
Stronger Bones
As we age, our bones tend to lose strength and become more brittle, making falls more dangerous and a lot more damaging. Dancing is a good way to strengthen your bones over time. By using your legs and arms in dance, you will be building their strength. Over time, this should even build bone density. The strengthening of your bones, will help prevent falls and reduce breakage and damage when you do accidentally fall..
Dancing can cause small amounts of damage to bones. Osteoclasts rush to the area of stress and helps with recovery, by absorbing damaged bone and building new, stronger bone in the area. Over time, this makes bones a lot stronger than they previously were.
Boosts Immune System
Scientists claim that listening to uplifting dance music, increases the level of antibodies in the human body. They also found that stress hormones decreased after listening to the same type of music. The level of cortisol, decreased significantly in people who listened to music compared to a control group who did not listen to music.
Levels of immunoglobulin A, a major defense of the immune system was much higher in the group who listened to music. Researchers believe that music can be used to help people in hospitals recover faster.
By adding actual dancing to the dance music, the benefits to the immune system are even higher than just listening to dance music, including the strengthening of the body and the overall well-being dancing produces.
Reduces Size of Waist
Dancing in general can help reduce body fat, especially around the waist. The old dance ‘the Twist: is definitely a good dance style to help reduce your waist size. Dancing doesn’t feel like exercise so much, it is more like fun, so pick a style of dancing that involves twisting, Dancing can help you focus major attention to reducing your waistline, but it will in fact reduce your weight all over your body while you are doing it.
Belly dancing is another good style of dancing that can be used to more quickly reduce belly fat. It will help with overall body weight, but it obviously focuses on the waist. Dances that elevate your breathing to a higher level will help increase weight loose. A person who weighs 125 pounds will burn about 180 calories with 30 minutes of fast dancing, compared to 90 calories of a slow dance,
Strengthens Arms
Dancing is an exercise that can help you strengthen your arms, depending on the style of dancing you are doing. When dancing with a partner, you will more than likely hold your elbows out which over time will help strengthen your arms. Other types of dance use the arms in different ways. It is almost impossible not to use your arms with any type of dancing. Moving for 15 to 20 minute intervals will help strengthen your arms and allow you to hold them in position for a longer period of time.
By strengthening your arms, you may notice that you are also able to reduce some of the flabby skin that can develop as you age. It will make your arms look a lot younger. Ballet has several arm movements that help strengthen the arms as well. You can practice these movements in a dance studio or even at home.
Strengthens Legs
One obvious benefit of dancing is to strengthen your legs. Although, you use your whole body when dancing, your legs are probable the major part of your body used when dancing. No matter what type of dancing you do, you will strengthen your legs with frequent dancing.
If you want to focus on strengthening your leg muscles, ballet is one of the best dance styles for this.
The Classic Ballet Bridge, involves pointed toes, and a ballet twist. It works the butt, abs and thighs. The Releve is done at the barre, or you can hold onto a chair. Move up onto your toes, and then lower your heels. Do these 15 to 20 times. This will strengthen the back of the legs and the ankles.
The Plie is a move that strengthens the thighs, hamstrings and butt. Legs are shoulder width apart. Turn feet so toes point out. Squat, keeping your knees inside your feet position. Hold as long as possible. These are just a few dance moves that can strengthen your legs. Movement is the key.
Lowers Blood Pressure
Exercise in general will help your health, but it is claimed that salsa dancing can even help lower your blood pressure and help reduce cholesterol. Lowering your blood pressure will obviously help prevent strokes and heart disease in the future. High blood pressure is a leading cause of strokes.
Reduces Arthritis Pain
Many people who have arthritis believe that they need to remain quiet and immobile to prevent the pain associated with arthritis. Nothing could be further from the truth. Remaining active is the best way to relieve the pain of arthritis. Dancing is a terrific way to reduce and prevent the pain of arthritis. Without regular movement, joints become stiff and sore, and will eventually atrophy, and you will not be able to move at all.
If you are suffering from arthritis, pick a style of dancing you feel comfortable with, and do it frequently At first, you may experience soreness, but in time you will notice that you feel much less pain, if any at all. Your muscles are getting used and they the arthritis pain is greatly reduced.
Improves Your Outlook on Life
Dancing can improve the way you feel and your outlook on life. It will get you out of the house and into the company of other people. Listening to music and becoming involved with dancing will make you feel more alive with will greatly improve your outlook on life.
Reduces Isolation
Many older people suffer from isolation, and don’t get involved in any outside activities. By joining a dance class for seniors, you can meet other people, possibly find a dance partner, and get involved with some social activities through dancing.
Improves Lung Functioning
If you have lung disease or difficulty breathing, you can find a style of dancing that is appropriate for you. You may want to start out with a slower pace of dancing, and as your lungs strengthen you can increase the intensity of your activity.
You may want to check with your doctor to see if you should start dancing, but if you can walk and move around, you should be able to judge the level of dancing you can handle. By building up your endurance with dancing, you will also be able to strengthen your lung capacity and be able to move more quickly for a longer period of time.
Improves Dexterity
You will find that after you have been dancing regularly for a while, your overall dexterity will improve. You will be able to move your fingers, hands, wrists, arms and legs much easier and with more grace. By using you muscles more, and in a specific way, that doing things involving hands and other parts of your body will become a lot easier.
Makes Legs More Curvy
Dancing compared to other types of exercise can make your legs and buttocks more curvy. Runners have nice looking legs, but they are not as curvy as a dancer’s legs. Dancers many times, have to hold positions for a longer period of time, causing their legs to become much curvier. This is not only more attractive, but their legs are stronger than most, because of this. Their overall muscle tone is better.
Improves Sleep Habits
Frequent dancing can help people sleep much better and much more soundly. If you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep during the night, regular dancing will alleviate this problem. Just as with any exercise program you use, your sleep will be much better. This includes dancing. You will feel better and fall asleep much easier.
Reduces Obesity
Dancing will help reduce obesity because it will help you reduce your weight. If you are currently obese, you should start out with a slower style of dancing, and as you are able to, increase the speed and intensity of your dance over time.
Some forms of dancing are simple and easy to do. Zumba is a cardo dance form that gets your heart rate up for a period of time to improve your metabolism and help reduce obesity. It is done to Latin music, making it fun to do. The steps have a set rhythm making them enjoyable rather than just exercise.
Zumba can be done at all levels so you can stick to the level you are capable of doing, If you are currently obese, this is a good way to start a dance program that can help you get in shape again.
Increases Sex Drive
Dancing, will make you feel sexy and stimulate your sex drive. Whether you are doing couples dancing, line dancing or any other type of dancing, it will make you feel better about your body and help increase your sex drive. When you start losing weight and toning your muscles, you will begin feeling sexier and get a bit of a jolt to your overall feeling of well-being and this will help your sex drive improve.
Exercises Muscles in Feet
There are many muscle groups in the feet so dancing is a great way to keep your feet in shape. Movements that restore the length of your lower leg muscles are very important for healthy feet. Foot strength is important for gait patterns, ankle stabilization and overall balance of the body.
Ballet dancers have strong feet. They get them by the dance moves they do and the exercises they do in preparation for the dance moves. Pointing the toes and holding the position will strengthen muscles in the feet. Doing the arch stretch is another move ballerinas do. Toe presses and toe stretches are also helpful in building strong dancing feet.
Increases Metabolism
Dancing, just like any other form of exercise will help to increase your metabolism. This is necessary for weight loss. By increasing the amount of activity your body gets, it will burn more calories. This increase in calories being burned will quickly turn into noticeable weight loss.
Frequent dancing will not only increase your metabolism while you are dancing, it will generally increase the metabolism of your body on a day to day basis. When you start a dance program, you will burn more calories when you sleep than you did before. You will burn more calories all during the day because your body is at a higher speed.
Dancing will build muscle mass and this is what causes your body to burn more calories on an ongoing basis. So, strengthening your muscles is the key.
Reduces Acid Reflux
If you suffer from acid reflux, you can reduce the episodes you experience by losing weight. Dancing frequently is a great way to lose excess weight and have fun at the same time. Most people who suffer from acid reflux are overweight to some degree. If this describes you, then start a dance program that is low impact, until you lose some weight and can tolerate a more intense one. After you reduce your weight, you will notice a lot less problems with acid reflux.
Reduces Restless Leg Syndrome
Regular exercise can help reduce restless leg syndrome, that includes dancing. Dancing is demanding of the leg muscles and will help them relax more when not active. If you suffer from rest leg syndrome, after you have started a dance class you will notice a reduction in episodes of the condition,
Improves Circulation
Dancing is a good way to improve circulation. It causes the heart rate to increase, and the blood flow to move more easily through the body. It should be done on a regular basis to keep the blood circulating smoothly through the body. You will notice that your skin looks better, your body functions better, because the blood is flowing well. Choosing a type of dance that allows your heart rate to increase for a longer period of time is best for good circulation. You can find a style of dance that fits your easily fits your level of ability.
Reduces Symptoms of Menopause
If you are going through menopause, you may be feeling tired and fatigued, along with having hot flashes. Exercise is very helpful with keeping menopausal symptoms away. You don’t need to do the most excruciating exercise all the time. Have some fun, and add a dance class to your exercise program. It can help build muscle mass, burn calories and help keep you more agile. You can try salsa, ballroom, jazz, ballet or line dancing. Do what you enjoy.
Reduces Onset of Dementia
Research from the New England Journal of Medicine claims that regular free style dancing can reduce the chances of developing dementia. This style of dancing requires split-second decisions, the key to maintaining one's mental functioning. It forces your brain to think quickly and use its neural pathways, increasing cognitive skills. Done frequently, this style of dancing has be reported to decrease risk of dementia by 76 percent. This twice as high as reading.
Improves Respiratory System
When you dance or do exercising, your respiratory system gets a large amount of fresh air, because you are breathing heavier, as your heart rate increases. This allows your body to get rid of toxic gases and other toxins. Breathing deeply, as during dancing or exercise, we strengthen the diaphragm. By taking deep breaths you flood your body with fresh oxygen rich blood, that goes to all areas of your body, keeping them functioning well.
Helps Improve Posture
Many people spend hours each day sitting at their desk, hunch over their computer. This can have a very damaging effect on a person’s posture. It weakens the lower spine and can cause people to have a hunched over appearance all day long. Staying in this position for long periods will cause backaches and more.
To have good dancing form, you need to have good posture. You lift your chin, and chest, and hold your shoulders back. WIth frequent dancing you will develop good posture habits that you eventually won’t even have to think about. You will just maintain good posture naturally.
Increases the Release of Endorphins
Endorphins are released by the body to reduce pain. They are said to be many times more effective than medications. Endorphins are released during physical activity, resulting in feelings of well-being and from time to time, euphoria. Most exercise will release endorphins, but dancing is said to be especially effective.
Endorphins can also reduce anxiety in people. Researchers also claim that dancing to music bonds people together, it can cause a mental high, that other exercises do not produce. Increases the release of natural endorphins is a positive in several different ways.
Helps with More Regular Elimination Habits
Simple constipation can be helped with regular exercise, including dancing. The heart rate is faster, the oxygen filled blood flows more smoothly through the body and the bowels tend to work better because of it. Frequent dancing’s major benefits include losing excess weight, which can help improve bowel functioning. Regular dancing will stimulate the nervous system, and help the muscles in the abdomen work better.
Frequent dancing can help your digestive system stay active, which in turn will keep it healthy and functioning properly. You don’t need to go crazy with dancing to benefit from better elimination. Moderate levels are fine.
Improve Muscle Tone All Over Your Body
Most types of dancing will improve your muscle tone, however, there are specific types of dancing that will increase the speed with which you get results. Latin and Salsa dancing will increase muscle toning, weight loss and many other benefits because of the fast pace and continuous movement involved.
Latin and Salsa dancing will help increase your overall body strength and tone your muscles faster than most other types of dance. You will be combining aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise. This means you will be dancing faster and more intensely. With frequent dancing a person will quickly develop a sculpted body like \many professional dancers have. The continuous movement of Salsa promotes cardio endurance and increase muscle tone all over the body. This type of dancing is fun and enjoyable too.
Dancing Can Really Increase Self-Esteem
Whether you are involved in a ballet class or go to a club with dance music, getting out and dancing on a regular basis can truly increase your self-esteem. You will feel a major boost once you get in the swing of dancing. When you feel more confident, because you are becoming more familiar with specific dances or when you start noticing a smaller waistline or slimmer legs, your self-confidence and esteem are going to sore.
As you begin to expand your social circle to include other people who enjoy dancing, you will begin to feel like a member of an exclusive group. Dancing will help you feel much happier and healthier.
Dancing can also improve the self-esteem and confidence of children. It is a great form of exercise. As children learn new steps the feel a sense of accomplishment. This tends to build their self-esteem as well, pushing them to learn more. When children perform in front of others, they develop a better sense of confidence as well.
Good Way for Expectant Mothers to Exercise
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists suggests that pregnant women participate in 30 minutes of moderate exercise several days a week. Dancing is a great way for pregnant women to get exercise and relieve some of their stress. Dancing during pregnancy can improve stamina before, during and after having the baby. It can help relieve some of the discomfort of pregnancy. It can make women stronger for delivering their babies.
Most dance classes for pregnant women focus on the combination of the mind and body forces. This helps with relaxation and reduces stress. Dance classes can reduce the risk of problems during labor and delivery. Some reports claim that aerobic dance can help reduce gestational diabetes. In addition to all the physical benefits of dancing during pregnancy, there is also the benefit of just being together with other pregnant women to have fun.
So, you see, there are many health benefits to dancing, some you probably never even thought of. Put your dancing shoes on and get out of the house and dance. You will look better and feel better when you get on a regular dance schedule. You will look forward to your dance night with anticipation and excitement. It will improve both your physical and your mental health.