The benefits of dancing for mental and physical health

Dancing is considered one of the things that causes great happiness for many people. It is also considered a first-class psychological treatment because music and rhythmic movements change the mood 180 degrees and reduce depression, stress and anxiety. Psychological benefits of dancing. Dancing is not just movements devoid of feeling, as much as it is a way to release negative energy and get rid of stress. Many times it may be difficult to talk about what worries or saddens us, and here dancing is an ideal language to talk about everything we are going through without words.

Recent studies confirm that dancing is a good way to treat many psychological problems and get rid of depression, and its benefits include the following:

1- Enhancing self-confidence: Dancing helps increase self-esteem, enhances confidence through the ability to express our feelings using movements, and provides a space in which a sense of connection and togetherness can be developed with other dancers, which helps reduce feelings of social phobia. Dancing movements also help us accept our bodies. Many of us feel a lack of self-confidence regarding our body shape, but dancing helps us accept our bodies and even admire them.

2- Reducing the chances of depression and anxiety: The physical movements of dancing reduce levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, as it helps - like other exercises - to secrete chemicals in the brain, such as endorphins and dopamine, which are among the neurotransmitters responsible for feelings of pleasure and happiness.

3- Enhancing emotional expression: Dancing teaches expression through movement. Dancers are able to deal with difficult feelings that may be difficult to express verbally, through the steps they practice. They can express feelings of sadness through calm musical rhythms with slow movements, or express anger through some fast movements. In which dancers release their emotions, and expressing feelings helps reduce the chances of depression, as dancers release all their negative feelings during movement.

Dancing can be a way to lose weight, maintain physical 1`1, and increase feelings of energy, in addition to its other physical benefits, which are:

1- Promoting heart and lung health: Dancing movements help stimulate blood circulation and increase blood flow to and from the heart, which enhances the health of blood vessels and protects against heart disease.

2- Increasing muscle strength: Dancing movements - especially fast ones - burn fat, increase muscle mass, and increase the body's endurance.

3- Weight control: Dancing contributes to weight loss by increasing the rate of burning calories through movement, and it can be a good way to get rid of local obesity, especially in the waist and buttocks.

4- Strengthening bones: Continuous movement help and prevent osteoarthritis and joint inflammation, especially when practiced during the day with exposure to sunlight, to benefit from vitamin D.

5- Enhancing coordination between body parts: Making sure to perform dance movements correctly and trying to remember them helps increase the ability to concentrate, enhance coordination between different parts of the body, and increases agility and flexibility, which in turn helps with balance.