Benefits of Dance

Dancing is a great way to spend time and have fun. But other than just providing an elevated mood, dancing has many more perks. Dance is a positive expressive outlet both emotionally and physically which allows one to connect body and mind. The benefits of dance vary from psychological to physical and include social and medical fields as well.

Emotional Benefits

Just like any other sport, dance helps to increase happiness and fight depression and anxiety. It is scientifically proven that dance movement therapy improves depression and psychological stress by regulating the levels of serotonin and dopamine in the body. Any physical activity reduces stress and tension, therefore regular dancing gives an overall sense of well-being. Dancing also provides a great way of escaping the fast-paced world, taking a break and relaxing.

Dance also improves confidence through providing a fresh look on creativity, motivation and energy. This new found self-confidence in dance will transfer to other aspects of your life, and because lessons are usually conducted in large social groups, these will become a more natural habitat for you. In this case, dancing is a way of socialising which will help prevent feelings of loneliness and depression as well as make you a great communicator. Studies have shown that strong social ties and socializing contribute to high self-esteem and a positive outlook.

Physical Benefits

Physical benefits of dancing are similar to those of any other sport except there is less chance of getting hurt as dancing is far more gentle than most sports. A lot of dance practices include stretching exercises which improve flexibility which in return helps you achieve a full range of motion for all the major muscle groups. Dancing builds strength by forcing the muscles to resist against a dancer's own body weight. This improved strength, together with flexibility, makes up a very powerful muscle corset that doesn't just benefit you in dancing but also in other aspects of your life.

Endurance, the ability for muscles to work hard for increasingly longer periods of time without fatigue, is also vastly improved by regular dancing exercises. Balance and coordination are key for a lot of dances and hence the people who dance have these two skills perfected. As a result of the above dancers also have a greater spacial awareness. Interesting fact that Olympic athletes often use dancing as part of their training to sharpen their speed, control and agility.

Mental benefits

It comes naturally that, due to the fact that the largest part of dancing is co-ordinating your body and memorising steps, your cognitive skills are greatly improved. This leads to a better memory and attention which in return can improve academic performance.

There were a number of studies conducted to see how dance impacts mental diseases and the conclusions were astounding. New England Journal of Medicine published the results that imply dancing actually helps stave off the effects of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. The key here is learning new steps and then while dancing making rapid decisions which stimulates the connectivity in your brain. The same research shows that dance is the most effective for this than any other sport.

Dancing therefore is a perfect activity to stay mentally and physically fit while developing your discipline, dedication and creativity.