But not only does it feel good to the soul, dancing also has some major health perks. Research shows dancing can improve your mental health by boosting your overall happiness…dancing can improve cardiovascular health, increase stamina, strengthen bones and muscles and stave off illnesses. But aside from the perks associated any heart-pounding activity, dancing has a cardio edge with unique benefits…Fabio Comana (an exercise physiologist and education team member for the National Academy of Sports) describes five components of fitness: cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, muscular endurance, body composition and muscular strength. And that’s on top of improved balance, agility, coordination, power, reactivity and speed, he explains. “If exercise is not an enjoyable experience, we’re not going to do it,” Comana said. And the bottom line is that dancing is, plain and simple, fun…(and) can trigger the release of feel good hormones like serotonin and endorphins.

And, as fitness expert Tracey Mallet explains… “Dance inspires people to get in shape with something they love to do, which doesn’t feel like dreaded exercise or a bad chore, but fun and exhilarating.” (By Lindsay Holmes, January 26, 2016)

Like art, dance allows children and young people to express and manage feelings that might otherwise be overwhelming. It enables them to explore emotions they may not be able to articulate. It’s fantastic that we’re now encouraged to talk, but sometimes talk simply doesn’t cut it. For those who aren’t fluent in English, dance provides a creative release and a means of expression. For those either not ready or unable to put their feelings into words, dance can fill the breech while simultaneously providing a shot of feel-good endorphins. (By Annabel Abbs, March 23, 2017)

Dancing also seems to encourage social bonding and what psychologists call “self-other merging.” Like chatting with a stranger and finding out you both attended the same school or grew up in the same neighborhood, moving and grooving in rhythm with others lights up brain pathways that blur the barriers your mind erects between yourself and a stranger, and so helps you feel a sense of connection and sameness, suggests a study from the University of Oxford. (By Markham Heid, July 5, 2017)

Two new studies say that dancing may keep you healthy well into old age, potentially by reducing the risk of disability and dementia.

The researchers found that physical activity generally helped women remain independent as they aged, but certain types of exercise seemed to have larger effects than others — and dancing led the pack…The secret may be that dancing requires a variety of different skills, both mental and physical. “Dancing requires not only balance, strength, and endurance ability, but also cognitive ability: adaptability and concentration to move according to the music and partner, artistry for graceful and fluid motion, and memory for choreography,” the researchers write.

The second paper, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, further examined dancing’s mental health benefits.after reviewing all the data, the researchers determined that aging adults who engaged in mind-body exercises tended to have stronger global cognition (a measure of general cognitive function) than people who did not do any.

Of course, dancing is also a good form of physical exercise, which plenty of research has shown to benefit mood, mental health and physical health — and it doesn’t hurt that it’s just great fun. (By Jaime Ducharme, December 20, 2018)