Forget lifting weighs, aerobicize, tennis, swimming and water polo and put on your dance shows. Doctors say that dancing can make you healthier. It’s a form of activity that benefits mind and body that deserves to be taken seriously, even if you’re laughing or staring at somebody’s booty while doing it.

One of the best things about dance is that it doesn’t suffer from the boring syndrome that difficult, repetitive exercise and training can promote. There’s nothing exciting about lifting weights or walking on a treadmill for most people.

In a recent study, people with heart failure who took up waltzing breathed better, exercised longer, and generally felt better. Dancing boosted heart health just as much as exercise, says researcher Romualdo Belardinelli, MD, a professor of cardiology at Università Politecnica delle Marche School of Medicine and director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at Lancisi Heart Institute in Ancona, Italy. Belardinelli says studies have shown that people with heart failure who get regular exercise live longer and have a better quality of life than their sedentary counterparts. “But long-term adherence to exercise programs is not very high, with as many as 70% of patients dropping out over time,” he says. “We have to find new ways to reach them.”(1) Dancing is that way! You can literally waltz your way to improved health.

Here are a few benefits of dancing:

• improved cardiovascular health
• improved lung health
• improved balance
• improved muscular tone
• improved coordination
• improved skin tone
• increased perspiration
• reduction of stress
• social interaction

The great thing about dance is that there are so many types, so you can go from relatively slow movement like the waltz to heart pounding belly dancing, or jumpstyle. You can become the Irish lord of the dance, the next Mr Bojangles or Gene Kelly. And remember that Ginger Rogers did every step that Fred Astair did, but she was wearing heels!! Choose your dance. It may be an option for exercise that you hadn’t thought of. Check out this video by clicking here.

Sources:

1. Laino, Charlene, Waltz Your Way to Better Heart Health, Study Shows Benefits of Dancing for People With Heart Failure, WebMD Medical News Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD, 2006
2. National Institutes of Health
3. webmd; Dancing for Fun and Fitness

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