Why dance? What’s so good about it.

Just a bit of fun, not really exercise – is sometimes what people say about dancing. But the evidence and the experts say otherwise. It is good for us, and not just for the physical benefits, it has mental health benefits too. Read on to find out more

Rachel Henley

2/8/20252 min read

I love a bit of a boogie, whether it’s a teatime kitchen disco or getting up on the dance floor at parties. Choosing to train as a Zumba instructor means I can pass on and share that fun way of getting and keeping fit with everyone that joins in my classes.

I looked into what’s so good about dancing for our health after seeing a social media post about 8 reasons to dance. The reasons are many, including: cardio health, balance, strength, flexibility, muscle tone, bone density, brain function, memory, mental health and stress release.

I even found the British Heart Foundation suggesting Zumba as a great workout choice in their post about 6 reasons to dance your way to better health! (All my sources listed at the end of this post). Here’s a bit more detail about all those benefits I uncovered.

Physical Benefits

When we get more active there are multiple physical health benefits:

Cardio Vascular: Including moderate to vigorous intensity exercise into our weekly routines is recommended for getting that heart pumping and strengthening it. Additionally, according to BHF the social side of dancing can also be partly contributing to our heart health. Hopefully it should be the case that with regular exercise you notice that you get out of breath less often, such as walking further or faster, or doing more activity before you get breathless.

Balance, Strength, Flexibility: Dance gets our muscles working, building muscle tone, and the stronger our muscles are the better our balance and strength will get. And because of the way we move in any dancing, then this also helps develop our flexibility. Come along to the classes on a regular basis and hopefully you should start noticing the changes in your own ability, such as finding you can step up the pace more, keep going for longer, or perhaps your squats getting deeper and your twists going further.

Bone Density: Weight bearing and high impact exercise works those bones too, to help with maintaining and even improving bone mass. Its important to keep our bones strong, to reduce the risk of breaks and osteoporosis.

Keeping our Brains Healthy

Dance is a workout for our brains too, its been shown in studies to have benefits for:

Memory: Multiple studies and experts say making our brains workout can help us delay or prevent cognitive decline, including Alzheimer's and Dementia according to various studies. Dancing requires us to think about coordination and learn moves and routines, and that gives our brains a workout that keeps all those neurons firing.

Happiness: Dancing can literally help us be happy. Various studies have shown it to reduce levels of anxiety and improve self-esteem, and it has started to be included into treatment for depression, with a range of benefits cited including emotional, cognitive and social.

Stress Busting: Getting moving is recognised to help reduce stress, with dancing being particularly beneficial for the cortisol awakening response compared to other aerobic exercise. Which could explain why a teatime kitchen disco is so popular.

So, that’s 8 great reasons to get dancing. And for an informal, no-pressure, no skills required dance workout, Zumba is a great option. Its fun, its flexible and adaptable to your own ability and levels of fitness, and everyone is there to have a fun workout and not to judge anyone’s moves.

Why dance? What’s so good about it.

Physical Benefits

Keeping our Brains Healthy

Zen Fitness with Rachel