Why dancing matters!

Dancing Motivations based on gender

Dancing is good for self-confidence

Burgess G, Grogan S, Burwitz L. released there study in 2006 about the effect of dance intervention on body image and physical self-perceptions. 

They compared the effects of swimming vs dancing on a group of 50 British schoolgirls aged 13-14 years.

Protective factor in preventing mental illness and reducing the severity of psychosomatic symptoms

In 2013, psychologists at the University of Örebro started to analyse the impact of dance on depression. According to the World Health Organization, unipolar depressive disorders were ranked as the third leading cause of the global burden of disease in 2004 and will move into the first place by 2030. Dance exercise is considered an active strategy to prevent and treat depression and anxiety in adults and school-aged youth. Participating in physical activity can also improve self-esteem. To increase physical activity in young age, an organized, non-competitive, leisure-time intervention is considered beneficial. In a social context, dance might serve as a protective factor in preventing mental illness and reducing the severity of psychosomatic symptoms. An 8-month dance intervention study showed cost-effectiveness and improvements in self-rated health for adolescent girls with internalizing problems. The improvement remained a year after the intervention. 

Dancing can reduce the onset of dementia

The World Health Organization expects the number of people who will be affected by neurological disorders to increase in the upcoming decades. Dance is seen as viable therapy because it simultaneously combines physical and cognitive stimulation, which could maximize its impact on neuroplasticity and cognition. Studies examined so far, show an effects of dance in elderly individuals with dementia, including subjects with Alzheimer’s disease.

In 2003, research published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that dancing can reduce the onset of dementia. The 21-year study of senior citizens, aged 75 and older, was led by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

A more recent study (2017) compared the effects of dance with fitness training consisting of endurance and flexibility exercises. Both groups showed an increase in the area of the hippocampus (an area of the brain linked to memory and  learning) however, only the dance group also displayed improved balance.

Dancing will lower your cardiovascular risks

A meta study by Rodrigues-Krause J., Farinha JB., Krause M., Reischak-Oliveira Á. in 2016 analysed the effects of dance interventions on cardiovascular risks.

Findings: VO2peak improved in favour of dancers, compared to non-exercise controls.

Dancing is good for your budget and does not harm the environment 

Compared to other activities, all you need for dancing is music and your body. No additional costs are involved. No need for expensive equipment, training devices, special clothes. No trees cut, no animal harmed, nothing that will end up in a trashcan after each activity.