Who doesn’t like dancing? Dancing is one of the most creative and exuberating activities to express yourself while enjoying the moment you’re in. Besides being therapeutic for your mind and soul, dancing also renders some commendable health benefits to your body that are unimaginable. Did you know that with just one hour of dancing you can burn up to 300 calories? This is probably greater than a casual swim or a simple exercise. With that said, let’s list out some undeniable benefits of men’s dancing on the floor or just in their rooms. 

8 Undeniable Benefits of Men’s Dancing

Below are the benefits of Men's Dancing:

1. Increased coordination

Dancing catalyzes your coordination between mind and body and helps in establishing the superiority of the former over the latter. It also helps in honing your posture and makes you more graceful.

2. Sharpens your mind

As mentioned previously, dancing hones the coordination skills, thereby sharpening the mind. It helps in keeping the mind active and alert by stimulating the memory for remembering all the steps. 

3. Improves the health of your bones and joints

Old men’s dancing is often accompanied by a healthy improvement in their bone and joint health. Dancing, being a weight-bearing exercise, plummets the risk of osteoporosis by increasing bone density.

Be that as it may, this is only possible depending on the amount of energy you’re ready to expand. If you push yourself hard enough, you’re strengthening your bones and joints. However, if you don’t push yourself or stick to a gentle two-step routine, it might not work. The up and down, side to side dance movements have to be done with full energy and enthusiasm in your body to strengthen your joints, muscles, and tendons. 

4. Brightens your mood

When you exercise, you instantly feel good as your body releases endorphins which are the feel-good chemicals. Dancing being one of the forms of exercise helps in lifting your mood and plummeting the risk of anxiety and depression.

More often than not, many therapists have prescribed dancing as a part of their therapy for those who are suffering from social anxiety or the fear of public speaking. The preliminary idea behind this initiative is to make people aware of the fact that once you loosen up and let go of yourself in front of strangers, especially when it comes to dancing, you are less likely to be self-conscious the next time you hang out or speak up in front of a large audience. 

According to a study conducted in 2007, hip-hop dancing is considered to stimulate more energy, enhance your mood and reduce stress levels which is equivalent to several other aerobic exercises such as cardio. 

5. Increases confidence

By inculcating the sense of fulfilment and success once you’ve mastered the steps, dancing encapsulates you with confidence and belief in yourself. 

6. Expansion of social circle

Dancing in groups can be a great way to meet new people and expand your social circle. It can be the ice-breaker in the conversations and help in building meaningful relationships.

For instance, two men dancing are more likely to develop a stronger bond than the ones who aren’t. This is probably termed by psychologists as ‘self-other merging.’ When two people dance together, certain areas of their brain light up and reduce the inhibitors which often make them self-conscious. These inhibitors are often the primary causes that never allow the feeling of connection or belonging to bud between two people and which make the line between a stranger and you extremely loud and clear.

In addition, men dancing on treadmills individually, for example, are less likely to build strong relationships than the men dancing in church. You ask why? Well, dancing individually is certainly a therapeutic activity. However, when you dance in a group, the activity of touching each other stimulates the sense of belonging and reduces stress and anxiety. Holding hands or dancing as a couple is one of the best therapeutic activities that you can do as a couple. 

7. Weight loss

As mentioned previously, dancing can be one of the most effective ways to burn calories and lose weight. In a one-hour dance, you can burn 250 calories to 400 calories. In comparison to running and swimming, dancing demands an exorbitant amount of energy caused primarily by accelerating and decelerating in dancing. Unlike exercising, dancing is not a consistent activity that you can do over and over again. It includes a variety of steps and in-depth variations which demand starting, stopping, and changing directions. This works up every muscle of your body. 

8. Improved overall well-being

Dancing supports overall health by plummeting the risk of heart diseases, improvement in blood circulation, strengthening the muscles, honing cardiovascular fitness, etc. From promoting weight loss to strengthening cognitive capabilities, men’s dancing can be helpful to live a long and healthy life. It is indeed one of the best ways to stay cherished and cherish the life that’s been given to us. 

Effect of Men’s Dancing on old age

According to a study published in the ‘Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience’, dancing is linked to amelioration in the ‘white matter, especially in the minds of older adults. A white matter is similar to a connective tissue which breaks down with the advancement of age. This explains why older men experience frequent memory problems and difficulties in processing.

We all have admired old men dancing, haven’t we? Well, dancing at old age helps because it is seen that white matter is reportedly proven to increase among people who daily commit themselves to dance. However, these results still lack concreteness as they are just preliminary. The effects are not seen everywhere, just in one area of the brain. But they cannot be denied to be promising under any circumstances. 

Interestingly, the results indicate that the white matter does not seem to improve among people who are walking or stretching. So, dancing indeed is a magical activity. So, be it samba, salsa, or hip-hop, men’s dancing form should always be supported.

Also Read: Dance It Out : Health Benefits of Dance