“Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” — Martha Graham
Have you ever considered how infectious music can make even the most rhythmically inept wiggle?
With a little music, any space becomes a stage — walking the dog, doing the groceries, doing the housework.
Even the most rigid bodies can relax into joyful movement when they hit the dance floor.
5 Fascinating Areas That Change in Your Brain When You Dance
Researchers have used positron emission tomography (PET) scans to pinpoint specific brain areas involved in dancing.
- When you listen to music, your sensory cortex translates the beats into movements that your basal ganglia adjust for fluidity and grace.
- The cerebellum then helps us with precision, balance, and coordination as we, hopefully, glide across the dance floor.
- Then the hippocampus gets involved, committing motions to memory.
- This lively mode of expression enhances neuroplasticity and mood by bringing together creative and analytical thinking in the cerebral cortex.
- To make things even better, just listening to music alone may increase neurogenesis (the process of forming new neurons) in the hippocampus.
The Powerful Neurochemical Benefits of Dancing
Dancing causes a dramatic shift in brain chemistry, which has far-reaching effects on your emotional and mental well-being. Let’s look at which ones they are:
- Endorphins: These are the all-over warm and fuzzy feelings guys. Their name comes from the words “endogenous,” meaning in the body, and “morphine,” an opiate pain reliever, making them the body’s natural pain killer.
- Dopamine: Which brings about feelings of pleasure and reward, and who doesn’t want that?
- Oxytocin: Through social recognition and bonding with others during dance oxytocin is released known as the love hormone.
- Serotonin: The happy neurochemical is released during exercise and helps to control your mood.
Thanks to this synchronized firing pattern, mirror neurons promote empathy and social connection.
And let’s not forget the benefits of dancing for stress relief by lowering your cortisol levels.
Taylor Swift certainly had it right when she sang “Shake It Off,” because it is an incredible stress and anxiety reliever.
Is Dancing Better Than Other Exercise?
Studies from the University of Sydney showed that dancing may be better than any other exercise for improving mental health, and they published their findings in January 2024 in Sports Medicine.
In a 2008 article in Scientific American magazine, a Columbia University neuroscientist theorized that synchronizing music and movement — quite frankly, dancing to music — makes a “pleasure double play.”
The music stimulates the brain’s reward centers, while dancing activates its sensory and motor circuits.
They found that dancing released the most endorphins over and above any other forms of exercise.
In 2012, a short study conducted by academics at Minot State University in North Dakota showed that Zumba (a Latin-style dance exercise) boosts mood and specific cognitive abilities, including visual recognition and decision-making.
Research has shown that dancing has so many health benefits, including:
- It helps improve their respiratory system.
- Increase in muscle tone and strength.
- Improved social skills, mental capability, self-esteem, and confidence levels.
- It helps people get stronger bones.
Dance and The Unbelievable Benefits Concerning Dementia
Verghese et al. (2003) compared six brain activities (e.g., crossword puzzles, reading, playing a musical instrument) and eleven physical activities (e.g., dancing, walking, swimming) in a 21-year prospective study of elderly participants.
Doing brain activities did reduce the risk of dementia, but physical activity generally did not — the only exception was dance, which had an amazing risk reduction of 76 percent.
The Exciting Findings of the Benefits of Dance Therapy
It is thought that listening to music and dancing acts as rhythmic auditory stimulation, which can help with some motor-system disorders such as Parkinson’s.
Dancing can also help with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), as it is thought to evoke emotions through movement, aiding in the release of trauma.
In the 1940s, dance/movement therapy (DMT) was started, which is explained by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration of someone for the purpose of improving health and well-being.”
Which Type of Dancing is the Best?
Well, which type of dance is your favorite?
- It is believed that Line dancing may protect brain tissue.
- Ballroom dancing may improve your focus on navigation and remembering layouts.
- Latin dancing may boost skills like visual recognition and decision-making.
How Long Until We Get the Most Out of Dancing
It is believed that dancing has a positive effect on people with depression and anxiety after just 25 minutes. Symptoms of depression were reduced by 47 percent, and dancing for 45 minutes reduced the symptoms of anxiety by 57 percent.
The Amazing Effects After the Dancing Stops
It was found in research done by Swedish researchers Netz and Lidor in 2003, who studied over 100 teenage girls for a year.
These girls struggled with depression and anxiety, and they wanted to determine the impact of dancing on mood.
Half of the girls took part in a dance class, and they found that after just one class, their moods seemed to be elevated. Unfortunately, the other half of the girls did not have the same relief.
They also found, fascinatingly, that the effects of the dancing lasted for up to 8 months after the classes had stopped.
Can Dancing Make Your Brain Younger?
As written by Christopher Bergland in Psychology Today in August 2007, dancing, surprisingly, has many anti-aging brain benefits.
In 2017, through MRI brain scans, a study on dancing showed that age-related degeneration in brain structure improved greatly when people (approximately 68 years old) participated in a routine-based dance class every week.
The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience titled “Preservation of Cognitive Function in Older Adults” by Kathrin Rehfeld, Patrick Müller, Norman Aye, Marlen Schmicker, Milos Dordevic, Jörn Kaufmann, Anita Hökelmann, and Notger G. Müller.
“There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.” — Vicki Baum
So, break out your tap shoes, ballet shoes, or no shoes at all.
Whether you take up a class or throw caution to the wind and head down to your local dance floor, let’s shake what our mamas gave us and reap the mental and physical perks.
