Benefits Of Dancing For Older People

By Author: Caroline Kjeldgaard
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Dancing is an easy and fun way to do physical activity, an activity that practiced with measure and safety can be a very suitable exercise for older people.
In addition, going to dance forces us to get ready, leave the house and contact other people with the improvement in mood that this entails.

Benefits of dancing for the mind:
There are many mental benefits of dance, both psychologically and physiologically:
•Reduce stress and ward off depression. It makes us feel happier.
•It helps to exercise memory, attention and, if you dance as a couple, it forces you to coordinate your movements with those of another person.
•It boosts self-esteem and self-confidence, helps to overcome shyness and drives away loneliness.
In addition, in the case of people suffering from arthritis, Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's, it seems that dancing helps them to stimulate physical and mental capacities.
Benefits of dancing for the body
Dancing brings multiple benefits to the body but, unlike what happens with other physical activities, it does not seem that we are doing "sports" (a word ...
... that scares many people):
•Strengthens the muscles, especially the legs, hips and, depending on the dance, the arms.
•Increases flexibility and endurance.
•Improves coordination and balance, thus helping to prevent falls in older people.
•It helps maintain weight, control blood pressure, alleviate joint pain and prevent osteoporosis.
•It keeps our brain more irrigated, which helps prevent cognitive decline.
•It benefits our cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

The most suitable dances:
Nowadays, thanks to the associations of the elderly, centers, day centers, active aging programs, etc., the elderly have access to a wide variety of dances. Some examples could be:

•Ballroom dancing: These types of dances usually have simple and repetitive movements, which reduce the risk of falling. Keep in mind that you have to dance as a couple, although if you don't have it, there will possibly be other people who will find themselves in the same situation and it will be a good opportunity to make a new friendship. If you want to practice ballroom dancing but do not want to do it as a couple, a good option is online ballroom dancing, in which you dance individually.

•Country: There are different types of country dances and with different levels of difficulty, so if we decide to try this type of dance it may be convenient to start with the simplest level. It is a type of activity in which you have to use your brain a lot to count steps and coordinate with the music and it is usually not necessary to have a partner to practice it.

Any other dance may be suitable, taking into account your own preferences and limitations. In any case, it is important to listen to the body and stop if you feel any pain or feel very tired. An idea of the level of effort that can be considered healthy would be that a conversation can be carried on while we dance.

Some recommendations when dancing:
As in the case of other physical activities, it would be convenient to wear comfortable and wide clothing that allows good blood circulation, make sure that we are not hot or cold, wear comfortable shoes that do not slip, and hydrate properly.
Finally, it would be convenient to do this type of physical activity 3 or more times a week, a minimum of 30 minutes (although it is recommended to exercise 5 times a week). However, we must bear in mind that before starting a new physical activity it is advisable to go to the doctor.

My name is Caroline, a ballroom dancer. I started dancing at a very young age and got extremely passionate about ballroom dancing. My passion for dancing made me launch my own dancing website in the form of https://danceincubation.com/.