Health Benefits of Dancing

 

Dancing is surprisingly beneficial for our health since it does not only involve our physical strength but also our creative expression, social interaction, and emotional. Dancing is perfectly suitable for people who are not fancy of individual physical activity.

 

Tips for dancing well

When it comes to tips for dancing well, the experts all agree that the most important thing is to have fun. Beyond that, some other tips include:

Let go of insecurity and fear

The first step to dancing well is to let go of your insecurity and fear. This is true regardless of your level.

Dancing — be it in front of a mirror, in a class, or in the middle of the dance floor in a nightclub, requires you to silence that voice in your mind that says you can’t do it or that people are judging you.

Dancing,  requires you to trust yourself, trust your training, and give yourself permission to fly.

Start with a strong foundation

Studies recommend that everyone do some ballet training, even if you want to focus on a different dance style.

That’s because ,ballet will teach you proper body alignment and how to use your core, so that no matter what movement you do, you’ll be able to find your balance.

 

Practice outside of classes

While taking dance classes is very important, on top of that, you must also practice on your own to solidify the information and make sure your body develops the appropriate muscle memory. You can do this in front of your mirror.

Master the rhythm and timing before styling,many people focus on the fun “styling” part right away, But if you’re in a class to learn a specific style of dance, you need to get the basic timing and rhythm down first, and only then add your arms, personality, and flavor on top of it.

Position yourself correctly in class

You can do this by standing closer to the middle of the class, instead of the corner.

This is especially helpful for beginners since you can see the instructor well, and the instructor can see you and help give you any corrections.

 

Health Benefits of Dancing

 

 

1. Improving Our Balance.

The older we are the more limited physical activities that we can do. Balance is one of the factors that influence our activity. Tango dancing makes us moves faster and requires us to have a precise posture. Therefore, dancing can help us in improving our physical condition.

 

 

 

2. Boosting Our Energy.

If we feel fatigue and tired, we are usually suggested to do sports. Dancing is one form of sport. The physical activity that we do during dancing triggers the emerging of endorphins hormone which eventually makes us energetic. Besides, dancing can level up our sleeping quality so that we will feel fresh after having a rest. Endorphins and a good sleeping quality lead us to have a better focus.

 

3. Reducing Our Weight.

60 minutes of dancing can burn our 468 calorie (for people who have 60 kg weigh). Compared to cycling, this is such a huge number because cycling for 60 minutes can burn only 450 of our calorie. Another interesting part of dancing is it is more to entertaining than exercising. Every dance has different choreography. There are several dances that are worth trying, such as swing, street dance, hip hop, etc. The more intensive our movement during dancing, the more calorie we burn. As a result, our waist size reduces. It brings such a good impact for our body thoroughly. Dancing is not only beneficial for burning our calorie but also makes us think positively. Having positive mind makes our body healthier and does not easily fatigue.

 

The name of dance that helps us in reducing our weights are:

Free style Dance

This dance makes us move freely. Since we rely on our speed, our calorie burns massively. Free style dance does not only help us reducing our weight but also increasing our flexibility. Before we start dancing, we should practice warming up movement with slow songs. Practice this dance for 30 minutes everyday.

 

Belly Dance

Belly dance is not only effective for reducing our weight but also for shaping our belly and waist. It is also beneficial for burning fat in our thigh. Another benefit of belly dance is keeping us fit. Belly dance can be done together with the instructor or we can watch the belly dance video to practice it.

Pole Dancing

Circling in the pole for 30 minutes in a daily basis is the same as do the gymnastics for 20 minutes. Besides reducing our weight, pole dancing helps us in strengthening our muscles and shaping our body.

Ballroom Dance

Practicing ballroom dance for at least 20 minutes is effective to burn 500 calorie. If we want to burn more calorie, we can practice ballroom dance more intensively.

Zumba Dance

Practicing zumba dance can burn our 540 calorie in one hour. The music in zumba dance helps us to practice intensive movement so that we can be more lively and vigorously.

Contemporary Dance (salsa, swing).

Practicing contemporary dance for at least 30 minutes everyday can reduce our weight significantly within a few weeks. The movement of contemporary dance is the same as walking and cycling.

 

4. Strengthening Our Heart

Dancing can increase our heart and lungs performance to bring oxygen to every part of our body during the heavy activity. Dancing is good for us who are in risk of suffering a heart disease. In that case, we usually are not suggested to do heavy activities, such as running or cycling. Relaxing dance like waltz brings positive impact to our heart.

 

5. Flexing Our Body.

Dance movements involve our upper and lower part of the body. Thus, they can increase our endurance and muscles. Besides, they can flexure our body. Increasing our body flexure will minimize the pain in our joints. We do not have to practice ballet since Javanese or Balinese dance will bring us the same flexing effect.

 

6. Training Our Brain.

Dancing makes our brain stays young. In Journal of Medicine of New England mentions that dancing is the relaxing activity that decreases the risk of depression, dementia, and Alzheimer. Dancing integrates our several brain functions so that the nerves in our brain are connecting to each other. To connect the nerves in our brain involves several process, such as kinesthetic, rational, music sensitivity and emotional. Learning and memorizing new movements can also increase our brain intelligence.

Mental activity, such as reading and playing game can maintain our brain intelligence and preventing us from suffering dementia. Dancing brings the same positive effect. Based on the result of the research in New England Journal of Medicine, dancing regularly can level down the risk of dementia until 76 percent. It is more than the other activities such as playing music, chess, monopoly, snake and ladder, and halma. Dancing is not only about physical activities that makes our body moves. It also expedites our blood flow and oxygen in our body. Furthermore, it influences the brain function by stimulating it so that our brain can perform at its best. In order to reach its best performance, our brain needs certain practice.

 

7. Increasing Our Self-Confidence and Focus.

People who are good at dancing expose high level of self-confidence because they are happy with their body as well as their ability to process the movements. Anthony Robbins, an NLP expert as well as world top motivator, said that if someone wants to change his/her fate, he/she should start by having a fit and healthy body. By paying attention to our health, we will feel that we are the one who control and responsible to ourselves. Furthermore, our ability to focus is increasing as well. We cannot dance well if we do not focus because dancing trains our memory to memorize the series of dancing movement.

 

8. Good Sleeping Quality.

Dancing makes our body moves actively. This eventually will affect our sleeping quality. A good sleeping quality brings a marvelous effect for our health, both for our organ and skin. READ ALSO: 15 Impressive Benefits of Sleeping 8 Hours a Night

 

 

 

9. Reducing Stress.

Stress can be healed by various ways. Dancing is one of the methods. It does not only apply for they who are fond of dancing but everyone who are under stressful condition can sense the thrill of dancing which eventually make them forget their stress.

 

10. Makes Our Skin Shiny.

Sufficient nutrients to our skin make it shiny. Dancing plays its important role in the process of detoxification. When we dance our blood circulation performs well to every part of our body. Dancing regularly will elevate our blood circulation that brings benefit to our skin thoroughly. Thus, our skin looks healthier and shinier.

 

11. Makes us Fit.

Whatever the dance that we practice, it will make our body moves as if we are doing sport. As a result, our body stays fit. When we dance, our muscles do their job perfectly. Dancing is a fun and exciting way to make us healthy rather than practicing monotonous treadmill. Besides, every move we make during dancing releases serotonin and endorphins hormone that make us sense the happiness.

 

12. Healthy Heart.

There is an interesting finding about dancing. The research shows that professional dancers are able to burn 260 calorie in one hour. It is the same as walking fast. For professional dancers, moving and shaking their body make their heart perform better as well as increase the health of muscles. This result is the same walking and running program that are applied to 35 people in Memorial Hospital in Rhode Island, USA. There are two cardio dances that are beneficial for the health of our heart. Those are salsa and capoeira.

Cardio Salsa

It is a low impact practice with high intensity that combines a latin music choreography that are fast and precise, such as merengue, mambo, cha-cha, samba. Cardio salsa consists of traditional aerobic steps, repetitive catching actions, and lifting both of our hands. The center of most of salsa dance is in waist muscles, the center part of our body and, pelvis and waists.

Cardio Capoeira

It is used to apply by slaves in Brazil to deceive their guards. Nowadays, this challenging sweaty sport involves heavy fight and strong defense. It can be done solo or with partners. Besides, capoeira requires more kicking and twisting movements.

 

Dancing is not only beneficial for adults but also for children.

Benefits for kids

 

Movement and rhythm comes naturally to kids, and when you get a child involved in regular dance classes, the benefits only get better.

Not only does dance allow kids to get their energy out, it’s also a great (and often safe) way for them to express themselves.

The benefits of dance embraces all areas of health, including physical, mental, and emotional. Not only does it give you a way to express yourself and have fun, but it also counts toward your cardiovascular exercise minutes for the week.

 

So, move along with a friend, join a beginner or intro class, and dance your way to good health!