If you've been watching the National News in Canada in recent years, sitting has definitely been getting some bad press. Studies have shown that the amount of time we spend sitting is one of the greatest indicators of our demise. This is where dancing comes in, one of the healthiest activities!
It is impossible to convey the many benefits that Arthur Murray students have received as a result of their dance lessons.
Many singles and couples find that it has created more romance in their lives. Others rave about losing weight and all the health benefits from ballroom dancing or enjoy how good they look and feel when out on the social dance floor.
Still others continue dancing for the sheer joy it brings them in the pursuit. It's "exercise by accident"- you're having so much fun doing it you don't even realize you've been exercising!
Here are some of the benefits our students have mentioned,
..so, while developing your dancing skills you should not be surprised if you:
The healthy aspects of social dancing - the learning, the deeper enjoyment of music we dance to, the physical activity of dancing itself, the connections to dance partners and the social connections we build over time in the dance studio can have far-reaching effects.
Social dancing is a cure for many of the modern ills of our technology driven lifestyles - things like sedentary habits, lack of novel experiences or challenging memory activity and the social isolation that so many people experience. Learning to dance opens up a whole new world of social possibility. No one is an outsider once they learn to dance.
Ballroom / Social Dancing and Mental Health
Scientists are starting to find out what dancers have always known anecdotally, that dancing keeps one mentally and physically fit - and the younger you start in developing the positive habits through dancing the better!
Dancing is being mentioned more and more in studies for mental health. A 2017 article in a Harvard neuroscience newsletter describes some of the theories on dancing's effect on the brain: Dancing and the Brain. Here is an interesting 2017 Globe and Mail article summarizing some of the studies that have been done: "Staying Two Steps Ahead of Memory Loss - The Many Benefits of Dancing for your Brain Health"
In an extensive study published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 ballroom dancing was found to be the only physical activity studied that was significantly associated with fewer dementia cases. Over the course of 21 years 469 people were studied as they aged to see who would ultimately develop signs of dementia. Records of their favorite mental and physical activities were kept over those years.
From the many mental and physical activities studied, ballroom dancing was the most associated with fewer dementia cases even after other possible factors were controlled for. (For detailed information on this study see the UK health service provider BUPA Ballroom dancing and reduced dementia risk and the abstract for the study Leisure activities - including ballroom dancing) and dementia.
Ballroom/Partner Dance as Therapy
Increasingly dancing is being prescribed as therapy for conditions such as Parkinson's. So many studies have shown concrete measured improvements for this condition including this one from Frontiers in Neuroscience.
Stroke is another affliction that can sometimes be improved by diligently working on dance skills. Here is an example from Texas of a lady who originally had ballroom dancing as her hobby before her stroke and has since utilized her dancing for her road to recovery.
Positive results for ballroom dancing have also been reported in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy in the study Ballroom Dance: Motivation for Physical Participation.
The socializing aspects of learning to ballroom dance socially have been employed in helping those in the Autism Spectrum (ASD) - Social Goals in Adults with ASD.
We encourage you to reap the wonderful benefits that dancing has to offer you.
The benefits are real. Getting started is easy. The first step is to schedule a free introductory lesson with one of our trained instructors. During that lesson, your instructor will determine your current level and recommend an appropriate course for you to continue.