Dancing for Your Health allows people of all ages to use dance as a fun, no-cost form of exercise. If you know the steps – let your body take it from there!
You’ll not only be the hit of the next party, but getting and staying healthier too!
Tangos, waltzes, sambas, and foxtrots are hits on ballroom dance shows – you can do it too.
Will you get a good workout? What about those two left feet? And how can “twinkle toes” benefit your brain?
WebMD posed those questions to science, dance, and fitness pros. Here’s their spin on ballroom dancing’s health perks.
Is It Exercise?
One dancer from last season said he lost 15 pounds.
How typical is that? It depends on the type of dancing and your skill level, says exercise physiologist Catherine Cram, MS, of Comprehensive Fitness Consulting in Middleton, Wis.
“Once someone gets to the point where they’re getting their heart rate up, they’re actually getting a terrific workout,” says Cram.
Dance is a weight-bearing activity, which builds bones. It’s also “wonderful” for your upper body and strength, says Cram.
Would-be dancers should consult their doctors first, especially if they have any health problems, says Cram.
Calorie Check
How many calories will you burn? That depends on your body and how vigorously you dance.
Dance is a “moderate activity,” say the USDA’s physical activity guidelines. Adults should get at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity daily, according to the guidelines.
It can be easier to stick to that with fun activities, says Cram.
Muscles Worked
New ballroom dancers may feel muscles they didn’t know they had. That often happens with a new activity, says Ken Richards, spokesman for USA Dance, the national governing body of DanceSport — the competitive version of ballroom dancing.
Ballroom dancing often means moving backward, especially for women, says Richards, a professional ballroom dancing veteran.
“If you’re dancing the foxtrot, you’re taking long, sweeping steps backwards. That’s very different than walking forward on a treadmill or taking a jog around the neighborhood,” he says.
Ballroom dancing works the backs of the thighs and buttock muscles differently from many other types of exercise, says Richards.
Core Experience
The legs and arms often do the flashy dance moves. But they’re sunk without a strong body core.
The “core” muscles — the abs and back — are also used in Pilates, says Janice Byer. A lifelong dancer, Byer is group exercise director of The Courthouse Athletic Club in Oakland, Calif. Byer and her husband (whom she met through dancing) are avid swing dancers.
Brain Teaser
Dance can challenge your mind as well as your muscles.
At least one observational study has shown sharper minds with ballroom dancing.
The study appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine two years ago. Joe Verghese, MD, and colleagues studied 469 people who were at least 75 years old.
At the study’s start, they answered surveys about mental and physical activities, like doing crossword puzzles or dancing. Back then, none had dementia.
Five years later, 124 had dementia. Frequent dancers had a reduced risk of dementia compared with those who rarely or never danced.
Of 11 physical activities considered, only dancing was tied to a lower dementia risk, Verghese tells WebMD.
Most dancers did ballroom dancing, says Verghese. He’s an assistant neurology professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
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