Dance is the sixth art, a form of expression of love, hatred, mime etc. It is also a great way of entering into a relationship with the rhythm and letting your heart beat to the tune. It is a way of merriment all over the world. We all love to dance in weddings, reception, navratras, ganpati visarjan, disco, dj, party, everywhere, and anywhere. We people are just so fond of dancing that we cent stop our foot from tapping on the music. Dancing can be of many types: the sophisticated style dancing like salsa, rumba, ballet, etc or not so sophisticated but fun, like our very own nagin dance, kite flying dance etc. Most of us all enjoy dancing, but those who don’t; here are 10 ways in which dancing is beneficial for health.
1. Sharpen your memory
Yes it sound odd but dancing increases your memory. According to The New England Journal of Medicine, dancing decreases the aging of the brain cells due to increased circulation of blood to the brain. So if you want your brain cells to age later stand up and dance. You will not only be graceful but age gracefully also.
2. Weight loss
We all believe in working hard and partying harder. Whenever we party we tend to dance, dance nonstop. Ever noticed that dancing for two hours is much easier than working out for two hours? Most of us don’t even realize that is has been more than an hour while dancing. Keeping a track of time is very difficult. But keeping the count on the calories burnt is very easy. The more physical activity, the more calories are burnt hence more weight loss. The more you dance the more weight you lose. So if you want to lose 10 kilos in a month and you don’t want to go to gym, dance for two hours daily. The results will be magical.
3. Tones body
When we go to gym or do regular workout, we find that the fat in the area of our buttocks, thighs, arms and tummy is the most difficult to reduce. We often term them as the stubborn fat. While dancing, we see that our hand movements, belly movements, and leg movements are vigorous. These movements help us tone these parts thereby burning the stubborn fat in these areas. These muscles become flexible, toned and the excessive fat is all removed.
4. Improved heart rates
According to a survey conducted, it was found that people who danced for at least 20 minutes a day had better heart rates than the people who performed regular cardio for that much time. It increases your heart rate and decreases the risk of heart failure. As I mentioned earlier, dance helps in removing stress, it also decreases the blood pressure of the person, keeping him calm and his heart healthy. Dancing leaves the same impact on body as low impact aerobics does. Also when we are happy our heart functions better. So next time when you are sad or think you have a high blood pressure, just dance your ‘heart’ out.
5. Improved postures
Dance is all about grace and postures. Even the traditional dance forms like kathakali, bharatnatyam, ballet, kathak etc are all based on the postures you make, with eyes, hands, legs etc. Dancing not only gives you a flexible body, but by repetition of certain postures you will get to know how important they are in our day to day life. E.g. if you go to learn salsa or flamenco, your instructor will ask you to learn to keep your back straight. We all know how important this is but we often fail to implement it. Once it becomes a habit, it will reflect in your personality. And do I need to mention the number of ailments that take place just because of wrong postures? I guess no. So not only you get a better posture but also a chance to avoid various ailments which would have arisen due to faulty postures.
6. Increased muscular strength and flexibility
Dancing tones our muscles very well. All the lifts that you practice, the spins you do, the jumps, the bents all tone down your muscles. Ever seen a professional dancer like MJ or Prabhu Deva and imagined from where did they get this flexibility? The answer is dance. Dancing gives us an opportunity to make the most of the physical strength we have and move each part which we generally keep firm during the day. Thus by lightening your mood, you get the opportunity to avail the benefits of a month long yoga therapy.
7. Increased stamina
We all decide to go to gym, or to walk, or to do yoga every morning. But how many of us actually do that? Oh right you did. But didn’t you get the feeling of quitting because you were too exhausted to attempt it again? Well dance is fitness in disguise. You enjoy it. Since we enjoy it, no matter how tired we are, there is always an urge to do more of it. This in turn increases our stamina of exercising. It also boosts our energy levels and it has been proved by many researchers worldwide.
8. Balance maintenance
Ever tried standing on one leg for 10 seconds? I am sure most of us will not be able to do that. Dancing gives us grace, a sense of balance, and an ability to move according to space. Many girls feel uncomfortable to walk in heels because they cannot balance themselves while wearing them. By dancing, you get to balance yourself, you get to know how to manage your weight and generally most of the girls get the confidence of wearing heels while walking as well as dancing.
9. Release your stress
Are you aging faster and having a lot of wrinkles and dark circles? Are you stressed? I have a remedy for you then. No it’s not an anti-aging drug, but nothing less than that in positive effects. Dance, dance your heart out. Dance on the most ridiculous song. Dance with air as your partner. Dance any way you want, but dance for yourself. You will find that you have lost a lot of stress. The premature aging and the dark circles are by and large a result of the stress we take in our day to day lives. Dancing acts as a stress extractor from us. It calms us down and gives us positivity.
10. It helps in socializing
I know you must be thinking how is socializing better for health? Well I will explain this both technically and non-technically. Technically, “man is a social animal”, he needs to live in a society. Non technically, imagine yourself locked up in a box where you have nobody to talk to no phones nobody to go out with, you will just sink into depression. Well we meet a lot of people in parties while dancing in parties, or on dance floor in a wedding or anywhere wherever we dance. Some of us take proper dance lessons, some of us might want to take proper dance lessons, go ahead. May be you will meet someone and become bffs.
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