“All she wants to do is dance,” Don Henley has been known to croon, and that is certainly true.  Male and female, young and old, sometimes all we want to do is dance – and as it happens, that urge is highly beneficial to our overall health.  Losing weight is difficult but even more difficult, is learning to adopt healthy habits.  Eating healthy is one thing, it is comparably easy to train ourselves to do that, but exercising?  Surely you jest!  Taking that first step is so hard, it can make you feel like you are wearing concrete shoes.  But when that first step towards exercise is a dance step, then you can start to feel the fun involved.

How many of us dance privately?  Maybe you do a little two-step when you are washing the dishes, perhaps you whirl around with the vacuum cleaner like you and Monsieur Hoover are starring in your own version of Strictly Ballroom, or maybe you do a little cha-cha-cha in the shower.  Whatever the case, you are already making yourself healthier whether you know it or not.

Dancing has several benefits associated with your health and well being.  For instance, research has shown that dancing will give you more energy and less stress.  By dancing, you will get stronger, your muscle tone will improve, and you will become more coordinated.  It will do more for you than helping you lose weight, although that is definitely a big advantage.

However, health is not just about weight, it is about keeping your body in good condition.  When you dance, your risk for heart disease decreases exponentially, as does your blood pressure.  Even your bones benefit from a rocking round of dancing, by getting stronger right along with your joints.  There are even some experts who believe that, when you dance, you are lowering your risk of ever suffering from dementia as well.  Who knew that learning to tango had so many bonuses?

“But I don’t know how to dance,” you may be insisting, and to that the response is simple: it does not matter!  There are so many kinds of dances you can do, and the skill level varies widely.  You might not be able to run right out and go salsa dancing (which, incidentally, can burn over 400 calories in a single hour), but you can swing dance without any trouble at all, or learn aerobic dancing.

Each different dance comes with its own individual health benefits, in terms of how it will condition your body and how many calories it will burn.  You can always start at the beginning and work your way up through various skill levels.  You and your beloved can start taking a beginners’ ballroom dancing class together, for example, and not only spend time together but get healthier in the bargain!

Do-si-do or dip and twirl: either way, you will be waltzing your way to spectacular health.