Fitness Benefits of Dancing

 Dancing is when someone moves in rhythm in accordance with a certain music using a series or sequence of steps. Dancing is an art through-out many cultures that have captivated people as a hobby, a career and is a form of exercising. Dancing is a possible alternative for many people of all ages to exercise and keep themselves in shape. Dancing has many physical benefits as well as having some mental benefits. Recently, dancing has been used for workouts due to these benefits. Some physical benefits are that it exercises your muscles constantly. Research shows that when someone dances for the same amount of time as running or swimming, they actually burn more calories. This is due to the different movements, steps, and turns that are constantly changing while a person dances rather than the same repeated movements in running or swimming, but it all depends on the intensity of the dance.

In a Time's article about the benefits of dancing shows that dancing requires lots of energy required due to, Nick Smeeton, a principal lecturer at the University of Brighton says, movement in all directions. It's like doing a grueling obstacle course compared to being on a freeway. It also keeps a person's heart healthy by raising a person's heart rate. Dancing helps people who are at risk of cardiovascular disease to improve their health and potentially eliminate the risk entirely. Dancing also develops balance requiring agile movements and exceptional posture which allows people to be able to control and stabilize their body. It improves flexibility by reducing stiffness in the joints, and post-exercise soreness. Dancing also strengthens bones which reduces risks of osteoporosis, which is a disease in that in areas of bone weakness can increase the risk of broken bones. It also regulates weight control and management along with improving muscle tone and strength through rigorous exercises and routines. However, dancing's benefits don't end there, as it has many mental benefits as well. According to research conducted and published in The New England Journal of Medicine, dancing improves memory and can also help prevent dementia due to dancing's effect of being able to reverse volume loss within the hippocampus, which controls memory.

As people get older the level or volume of white matter in the brain declines as our neuron transmissions get slower and slower. Research conducted, showed that older adults who danced had improvement in levels of white matter in the brain compared to six months prior to dancing. Dancing has even been shown to reduce stress through stress relief, and improve social skills, and self-esteem. This was discovered by researchers through a controlled experiment conducted and published in the Journal of Applied Gerontology. Dancing has a very wide range of benefits both physically and mentally. Dancing is a productive way of exercising and keeping oneself in shape. It is a better alternative than going to the gym and will continue to live on in many cultures and society. Dancing will continue to inspire many peoples' lives.

Citations:

1. Heid, Markham. Why Dancing Is the Best Thing You Can Do For Your Body. Time, Time, 5 July 2017, time.com/4828793/dancing-dance-aerobic-exercise/. Department of Health & Human Services.
2. "Dance - Health Benefits." Better Health Channel. Department of Health & Human Services, 30 Apr. 2013. Web. 02 Nov. 2018.
3. 9 Health Benefits of Dance. EverydayHealth.com, 1 July 2011 Dance and Health. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 June 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_and_health.
4. Fred Astaire Dance Studio. (2018). The Benefits of Dance | Fred Astaire Dance Studios. [online] Available at: https://www.fredastaire.com/benefits-of-dance/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2018

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