Dancing Improves The Mind, Body And Spirit

Exercising more and becoming healthy always seem to be on the top of the list when it comes to New Year’s resolutions. However, many of us seem to give these up pretty quickly because exercising becomes more of a chore than a fun way to get healthy. In order to overcome this idea that it is a chore, many people find alternative ways to exercise including dancing. According to Time Magazine, dancing not only improves your physical health but mental and emotional health as well.

Time Magazine has collected multiple studies done on elderly people as well as young people and the effects dancing has on their health. According to a study done on about 1,000 Japanese elderly women, 73% of them who frequently danced had a lower chance of becoming disabled which beat out other forms of exercise such as yoga and calisthenics. Other studies done have also supported this theory.

Growing up as a competitive dancer and loving the art form, I can totally get behind this. It is an art form, lifestyle and so freeing. Whether you are a trained dancer or not, it is a great way to exercise without thinking of it as exercising and to become more balanced and flexible in your body, mind and life. I personally would suggest everyone try a dance class as an alternative way to exercise because you may be surprised by how much you like it! If you are worried about how you will look just remember the old phrase, “Dance like no one is watching! … Because they are probably on their phones anyway not paying attention.”

If you would like to know more about the research behind this and the benefits of dancing, check out the Time Magazine article here!