It’s important to find a balance between work and physical activity, especially when a lot of professions revolve around sitting at a desk hunched over a computer. The motivation to exercise can be hard to find when you’re trying to stick to a rigorous workout routine. Luckily, there is a simple and fun solution to add more movement into your daily life: It’s time to dance more!
Here are some of the ways your body, mind, and soul can benefit from busting a move more regularly.
1. Dancing improves your physical health
I’ve found that when I feel the most tense or tired, taking a dance break almost immediately rejuvenates my body and eases my muscles. And I know I’m not alone in this.
According to Better Health Channel, some of the most prominent physical effects of dancing include improved muscle strength, increased endurance, better posture and flexibility, and improved coordination.
One of these benefits in particular, improved muscle strength, is more substantial than most people realize. In their book Dancing Is The Best Medicine, Julia F. Christensen and Dong-Seon Chang explain that “Regular dancing strengthens muscle cells in the entire body and trains our muscles by having them interact in natural movements rather than providing narrow, partial muscle training of fitness machines”
A lot of these physical health benefits, such as improved weight management and greater heart and lung health, are experienced long-term as well.
When feeling stiff and tense at work, taking a quick dance break will loosen your muscles and help you feel more comfortable while working.
2. Dancing reduces stress
Several sources that talk about the benefits of dancing mention how, alongside myriad physical benefits, dancing can boost your mental health. In a world where discussions over mental health have grown more and more common, it’s even more necessary that we find ways to heal our minds.
Women’s Health Magazine shares that when you dance more, cortisol levels are reduced in your body, which in turn reduces stress. You are calming yourself down mentally when you take the time to move around physically.
As someone who struggles with her mental health sometimes and goes to therapy bi-weekly, having a remedy like dancing to lighten my mood is a must. Being a college student, your mental health kind of goes up and down and all around. It’s important for me to have something I can turn to when I’ve been studying for too long or am missing home.
Focusing on your dancing can be a way to simply shift your mind from thoughts of worry and anxiety to thoughts of dance and music. While dancing, you’re being kind to your mind.
3. Dancing boosts self-confidence
The more you dance, the more comfortable you’ll be with yourself. This improvement boosts self-confidence and self love. Think about it. Do you feel more confident in yourself when you’re slumped on the couch binging that new show on Netflix or when you’re up and about, moving to the music, and dancing like nobody’s watching?
We allow ourselves to be freely expressive when we release our expectations of what we think is “good dancing” and instead listen to our bodies and move around for fun.
To let yourself truly be free in your dancing, you must have a certain level of confidence, which isn’t easy. Learning to stop worrying about what others might think about your dancing is liberating and allows you to have more fun.
And if you don’t believe me, there are even therapists who endorse this remedy. TIME Magazine says that some therapists prescribe dancing to their patients who suffer from social anxiety. Social anxiety can manifest itself in many ways, but one of the main struggles you would have with it is that you’d be worried about interacting with others and making connections. With the self-confidence and love you’d gain from dancing, those social anxieties start to fade away.
4. Dancing helps form connections
While you can dance by yourself whenever you want, dancing can also be a very social activity.
Dancing encourages social-bonding. Literally. Dancing breaks down the barriers in your mind that hold you back from knowing a stranger, giving you both a sense of connection. And while dancing isn’t the only way to form connections, a study from the University of Oxford suggests that, “An important feature that distinguishes musical activities from other social behavior is the importance of shared rhythms, and the externalization of predictable rhythms that allow synchronization to occur between two or more people said the same.”
When you’re dancing with someone, you both have to be aware of the rhythm of the music and the rhythm of the other person in order to successfully dance together. If you tried to waltz with someone who was trying to salsa with you, the results would be messy and chaotic.
Once you’re following the same rhythm as someone, TIME magazine describes it as “like exercise and a hug rolled together.”
From waltzes to salsa, the tango to the foxtrot, and more, many dances require partners to work together to create a beautiful movement together.
5. Dancing can save your life
Alongside the other health benefits of dancing, there are some long-term benefits that can actually help save your life.
Agnieszka Burzynska, an assistant professor of neuroscience at Colorado State University, learned that people who dance have better “white matter” integrity in their brains. White matter is a connective tissue that breaks down as we get older, causing memory loss and slower cognitive abilities.
Furthermore, according to Mya Care, there is evidence that dancing helps people suffering from diseases such as dementia and/or Parkinson’s.
In Dancing Is The Best Medicine, Christensen and Change reveal that “dancing offers some protection against dementia… It was dancing that most significantly—by 76 percent—reduced the risk of developing dementia[.]” Further, “Studies show that dancing, and especially tango dancing, can lead to noticeable improvements in the mobility of Parkinson’s patients.”
So, it’s time to dance more! It’s in the science. Turning on your favorite upbeat music and letting your body move to the rhythm has a way of helping your body more than other forms of exercise.
Personally, impromptu dance parties are one of my favorite things to have. Every once and a while, when my mom is cooking dinner, we’ll turn on some music and have a dance party together in the kitchen. This always gives me an extra spark of joy. I could have had a horrible day, and then I can just dance the blues away with my mom in the kitchen.
And if you’re looking for some dance party inspiration, here are some of our favorite songs to let loose and bust a move to:
- “Fancy Like” by Walker Hayes
- “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo
- “hole in the bottle” by Kelsea Ballerini
- “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” by Taylor Swift
- “Hold My Hand” by Lady Gaga
- “Thunder / Young Dumb & Broke (Medley)” by Imagine Dragons and Khalid
- “Best Friend (feat. Doja Cat)” by Saweetie
- “Rewrite the Stars” from The Greatest Showman
- “JUMPIN” by Pitbull & Lil Jon
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