Is it more effective than jogging and strength training? Study: Dancing has significant benefits for mental health, cognitive function
With the popularity of short videos, it has become a trend for young people to shoot short dance videos and upload them to social platforms. In fact, as a physical activity, the benefits of dancing may be no worse than other traditional sports! The latest research published in “Sports Medicine” points out that 6 weeks of dance activities can not only improve the mental health of subjects; it can also improve brain cognitive functions such as language memory, working memory, and executive function, and is beneficial to all ages. Certain benefits.
Is it more effective than jogging and weight training? Study: Dancing has significant benefits for mental health, cognitive function
A research team from the University of Sydney in Australia collected 27 previous studies on dance for a meta-analysis, including 1,392 subjects, including healthy people, patients with Parkinson’s disease, people with cognitive impairment, patients with cerebral palsy, and people with fibromuscular disease. There are nine major groups of people including pain patients, those with general musculoskeletal pain, those who fell for unknown reasons, breast cancer patients and patients with chronic heart failure.
Dance intervention measures include aerobic dance (Zumba, tap dance), dramatic dance (modern dance, jazz dance), social dance (rumba, waltz, jive, Latin American dance, salsa, rock and roll dance), dance games, dance sports, cultural dances (line dance, square dance, qigong, belly dance, and folk dances from Brazil, Poland, England, Ireland, Greece and Argentina). The duration of each dance ranged from 30-90 minutes and was followed from 6 weeks to 18 months.
The final research team analyzed three age groups: teenagers and children (under 16 years old), adults (17-54 years old) and middle-aged and older adults (over 55 years old), and compared dance movements with a wide range of physical activities (such as Martial arts, walking or jogging, resistance training and team sports), it is found that it has a significant effect on promoting mental health, especially in promoting life motivation, reducing pain feelings, and relieving depression, compared with other sports.
As for improving cognitive functions, dance exercise also has potential positive effects, such as verbal memory recognition, enhanced working memory, increased social cognition, and improved executive functions. The research team emphasized that these benefits are particularly obvious in middle-aged and elderly people; however, according to the research results, all age groups (7-85 years old) can obtain psychological or cognitive benefits from dance activities.
Can dancing promote social interaction and improve the quality of life? Can it be used as a training alternative to running?
The researchers also noted that dance may address health conditions, as well as specific psychological and cognitive needs of different age groups. For example, dancing helped reduce depression and anxiety in young subjects, suggesting dance’s potential as a therapeutic tool for managing stress and regulating emotions. In addition, older adults and those with chronic illnesses benefit from dance’s cognitive enhancement, which plays a vital role in maintaining individual independence and improving quality of life.
Alycia Fong Yan, lead author of the study, said: “Most people understand that physical activity has clear health benefits compared to sitting for long periods of time and binge-watching TV shows, but they may not realize that dance can be an effective alternative to running, the gym, and other exercises. Measures.” Future research could further explore the long-term effects of dance and how specific elements of dance, such as genre, music and social interaction, benefit physical and mental health.
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