Moderate intensity dancing is tied to a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
A study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine based on data from 48,000 adults age 40 and older monitored over a decade, with no heart disease at the start, suggests that dancing keeps your heart healthy.
The Australian researchers found that the people who walked regularly were 25 per cent less likely to develop heart disease or die from it, while dancers were 46 per cent less likely in comparison to a group who did not.
Health Benefits for All
The health benefits of dancing were found to be the case even after accounting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, smoking, alcohol use, body mass index, chronic illness, stress and overall physical activity.
The researchers report that the bursts of activity that occur in fast tempo dances, make people work at a higher intensity, increasing the benefits of exercise. Also dancing with other people reduces stress and blood pressure, which lowers the risk of heart disease.
Other benefits of dance
Not that I need any further justification, as I love to dance! Dancing promotes social interaction, is highly stimulating and fun. It covers many areas of fitness including heart-healthy cardiovascular benefits with weight-bearing resistance - there are also improvements in balance, posture, coordination and agility too.
There are positive effects on cognitive health as learning new dance moves may reduce the risk of cognitive disorders in older adults such as Alzheimer's and the inherent physical activity can promote maintenance and an increase in brain volume that is important for memory.
Dance is just one of the many influences behind Primal Play.
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References:
Dancing Participation and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality
Merom, Dafna et al.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, June 2016, Volume 50 , Issue 6 , 756 - 760
Effect of Dance Exercise on Cognitive Function in Elderly Patients with Metabolic Syndrome: A Pilot Study
Se-Hong Kim, Minjeong Kim, Yu-Bae Ahn, Hyun-Kook Lim, Sung-Goo Kang, Jung-hyoun Cho, Seo-Jin Park, Sang-Wook Song
J Sports Sci Med. 2011 Dec; 10(4): 671–678.Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory
Erickson KI et al.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Feb 15;108(7):3017-22More from Primal Play: Is physical inactivity the single best predictor of premature death?
Doing six times more exercise, in other words, two hours a day, could offer even more benefits, a study reveals.