Dancing Keeps You Young

In this Article (Index)

• Dancing & Older Adults
• Benefits of Dancing

Dancing & Older Adults

Engaging in physical activity (PA) promotes both mental and physical health, especially as you age.

However, most older adults don't exercise enough, and don't reach the recommended 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity PA.

A study conducted in 2023(1) investigated the effects of a weekly dance program spanning 12 months on the mental well-being and physical activity levels of older adults.

The study involved 685 participants, 89.1% of them were women and the remaining 10.9%, were men. Their average age was 75 years.

The outcome was positive, as the participants increased their levels of physical activity and improved their well-being scores.

The intervention was quite simple, the 60-minute weekly dancing session included a warm-up with low-impact aerobic movements, the dancing part, with different types and styles, and a cool-down period with stretching, breathing, and relaxation.

Benefits of Dancing

The participants' mean self-rated health state increased from 62 at the beginning of the study to 70 at the end (on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being "Best imaginable health state").

Dancing is a flexible activity as it can be adjusted to the age groups and physical abilities of the participants. It does not require a special setting or costly equipment. It allows people of different backgrounds to mingle and socialize.

Wellbeing stems from the recreational side of dancing, the building of new social relationships, the connection with past dancing experiences when they were younger, and the creative side of dancing.

Dance therapy is a highly relevant intervention that demonstrates benefits in physical, psychoemotional, and social aspects.
These benefits have brought about improved functional autonomy, existential renovation and self-knowledge, a sense of self-efficacy, creative potential, resocialization and belonging, and the creation of lasting bonds for coping with progressive age-related degenerative processes.
Dance therapy promotes leisure, happiness, increased liveliness, and satisfaction with life. Pessoa, Neves, Caputo Ferreir (2019) (4)

A previous review of studies (2) reported that "dance, regardless of its style, can significantly improve muscular strength and endurance, balance, and other aspects of functional fitness in older adults."

It also "improves quality of life and decreases anxiety." (3)

A meta-analysis conducted in 2023 found that "dance movement therapy (DMT) and dance interventions for psychological health outcomes. Results suggest that DMT decreases depression and anxiety and increases quality of life and interpersonal and cognitive skills, whereas dance interventions increase (psycho-)motor skills." (7)

In Western societies, dance has been regarded as a leisure, but in others, dance is regarded as a "healing art" and helps relieve symptoms of mental or emotional distress. (7)

Traditional Indian Ayurveda considers that dance has a therapeutic effect, a healing power for the body, and also promotes mental well-being by enhancing inner awareness. (6)

However, in the Western world, for several centuries, from the 1600s to the mid-1900s, there was a strong "antidance" movement that vilified dancing and questioned it based on religion. It was considered lascivious, immoral, impure, and against the scriptures. Biblical mentions of dance were distorted to give them a pious and pure meaning. In the 1800s, it was criticized for being bad for the health. (5)

But now we know better, a recent study (8) reported that "dance interventions significantly improved body composition, blood biomarkers, and musculoskeletal function [and that] undertaking structured dance of any genre is equally and occasionally more effective than other types of structured exercise for improving a range of health outcome measures. Health practitioners can recommend structured dance as a safe and effective exercise alternative."