Dancesport is all about pretty dresses, countless hours of practice and competition, right? Right. But dancing is about so much more than that, it’s one of the healthiest activities you can do to get in shape, it improves your stamina and tones your body.
“Plus, it gives you great looking legs 😊”
All jokes aside, with summer coming to an end I know many of you will be looking for classes to attend during the year and I’m here to give you 7 reasons why you should choose Standard & Latin American dancing:
“IT’S A FULL-BODY WORKOUT”
Dancing is scientifically proven to be one of the sports which is the healthiest to practice as a hobby. It engages literally all the muscle groups in your body, helps make your cardiovascular system ticking along better and even helps with minor respiratory problems; I have lots of children and adults in my classes who had light forms of Asthma when they first started but have no need for their medicine anymore. Dancing tones your muscles and improves your core stability & posture, helping you get rid of the little pains and aches resulting from sitting at your desk behind a computer all day.
“IT’S GREAT FOR YOUR HEART”
Studies showed that people with heart failure are better off choosing dance over other sports like cycling, walking or running. Those who chose dancing improved their heart health drastically more than patients who chose other sports, plus they definitely had more fun exercising!
“IT MAKES YOU HAPPIER”
Dance therapy has been proven to lower depression levels of individuals significantly. A recent study concluded that joining an upbeat dance class helps greatly in improving people’s mood while a 12-week attendance of a dance class improved levels of depression and overall psychological wellbeing drastically. So, when feeling low, it’s time to Samba!
“IT IMPROVES YOUR MEMORY”
OK, so all aerobic exercise helps combat loss of volume of the hippocampus, which tends to occur as we age. Hippocampus is an area in our brain which plays an important role in spatial memory and consolidation of information from short-term to long-term memory and shrinking of this area may lead to memory loss and even dementia.
While aerobic exercise, in general, helps against these changes, dancing is so much more fun than running!
“IT HELPS YOU FEEL LESS STRESSED”
Dancing in COUPLES (see, ballroom dancing it is!) has been proven to help reduce stress. If you’re interested to hear more, have a read through this article https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334281938_DANCING_TO_RESIST_REDUCE_AND_ESCAPE_STRESS
Or, alternatively, you can just believe me and try it – after a particularly stressful day don’t sit on the couch, grab a partner and Waltz!
“IT CAN IMPROVE YOUR SOCIAL LIFE”
Attending a dance class is the perfect way to meet people and make new friends. Moving to a new city? Join a dance class! Going through a breakup? Join a dance class! Feel like you never do anything fun with your partner? Join a dance class! Don’t have a partner? Well, join a dance class!
The good thing about dancing is that you can really choose to attend classes with your partner, a friend or even alone. It really doesn’t matter, just show up and let dance and music do their magic!
“IT MAKES YOU LOOK GOOD”
And finally, dancing really helps with your appearance. Losing weight is easier when you’re having fun, plus we have already established that through engaging all of your muscle groups it helps with general toning, flexibility, and posture. Let’s be clear- it can give you mean abs and great legs!
But most importantly, I promise that the mixture of movement, music and sharing it with a group of fellow dancers will make you feel happier. Happier people smile more….and smiling people are more attractive.
Come follow us on instagram @lt.dance_ for your daily dose of dance inspiration!
