Music and dancing has been a part of many different cultures for centuries. It is part of celebration and entertainment.

And whether they knew it or not, way back when the dancing began, there are numerous amazing health benefits.

Now that the World population is facing a major obesity epidemic, health benefits from dancing is something that should be taken a closer look at.

Not only is dancing an exceptional way to let loose and have fun, but it also provides some terrific benefits for your health.

In fact, Mayo Clinic researchers reported that social dancing helps to:

• Reduce stress
• Increase energy
• Improve strength
• Increase muscle tone and coordination

Dancing the night away can burn more calories per hour than riding a bike or swimming.

And whether you like to kick up your heals to hip hop, salsa or country, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute says that dancing can:

• Lower your risk of coronary heart disease
• Decrease blood pressure
• Help you manage your weight
• Strengthen the bones of your legs and hips

Dancing is a unique form of exercise because it provides the heart-healthy benefits of an aerobic exercise while also allowing you to engage in a social activity.

The amount of benefit you get from dancing depends on, like most exercises, the type of dancing you’re doing, how strenuous it is, the duration and your skill level.

Salsa Dancing

• Builds endurance and stamina
• Helps with weight loss
• Relieves stress
• Helps you release toxins via sweating
• May help lower blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels
• Can lead to a reduced heart rate over time

Dancing Off Those Calories

How many calories will you burn while dancing? That depends on the type of dancing. Here’s a range of some of the most popular varieties, based on a 150-pound person, per hour:

• Swing dancing: 235 calories/hour
• Ballroom dancing: 265
• Square dancing: 280
• Ballet: 300
• Belly dancing: 380
• Salsa dancing: 420+
• Aerobic dancing: 540+

Mental Benefits of Dancing

Dancing is a unique form of exercise because it provides the heart-healthy benefits of an aerobic exercise while also allowing you to engage in a social activity. This is especially stimulating to the mind, and one 21-year study published in the New England Journal of Medicine even found dancing can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia in the elderly.

In the study, participants over the age of 75 who engaged in reading, dancing and playing musical instruments and board games once a week had a 7 percent lower risk of dementia compared to those who did not. Those who engaged in these activities at least 11 days a month had a 63 percent lower risk!

Interestingly, dancing was the only physical activity out of 11 in the study that was associated with a lower risk of dementia. Said Joe Verghese, a neurologist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a lead researcher of the study, “This is perhaps because dance music engages the dancer’s mind.”

Verghese says dancing may be a triple benefit for the brain. Not only does the physical aspect of dancing increase blood flow to the brain, but also the social aspect of the activity leads to less stress, depression and loneliness. Further, dancing requires memorizing steps and working with a partner, both of which provide mental challenges that are crucial for brain health.

So clearly dancing is excellent for your body, mind, and soul. Pick up a new heart healthy habit and learn to dance salsa.

Benefits of Latin Dancing: Salsa Dancing - A Refreshing Replacement for Conventional Aerobic Exercises

Salsa dancing is emerging as a refreshing replacement for conventional aerobic exercises. In Classes based on the fiery music and movements of Salsa, Mambo, Cumbia, Merengue and more are starting to get people interested in Salsa dancing, while at the same time giving them a pounding workout.

Salsa’s popularity began to percolate beyond the borders of the Latin neighborhoods in the early Seventies, spreading into New York’s ballrooms and dance halls. Although somewhat formulized when practiced by those who favor profession competitions, salsa dancing in its most traditional form is typically spontaneous and extremely energetic. Dance movements alternate between the very slow and the furious, an embodiment of its lively musical style.

From a strictly athletic point of view, a night of dancing is a superb workout. It merges aerobic and anaerobic training, working your stamina and leg strength. Any kind of dancing is a great way to build the perfect body shape. The continual movements build up aerobic stamina while steadily burning calories over the course of the evening. This helps to strengthen and tone your legs at the same time you lose weight. But salsa excels at this.

Experts say that dancing salsa can burn up to 10 calories a minute, without the negative side effects of high impact exercises such as running. You can learn salsadancing in a dance studio near you, with or without a partner and it's a fitness program that can easily be integrated into your social life. By using salsa dancing to get fit, you will not only look great, but you'll have no excuse not to get out more and improve your social life.

The sudden bursts of frenzied dancing in Salsa also can help to improve the anaerobic fitness essential to sports like sprinting, swimming and basketball. Equally important to the aerobic paybacks are the improvements in flexibility and dexterity, a commonly overlooked facet of fitness. Elasticity from dancing will help your swiftness, power and co-ordination by growing your overall range of motion.

When you think about it, dance is actually the most natural form of exercise around. It is also a lot more fun. Life is too short to waste on regimented aerobics, spinning and step classes. Put some spice in your fitness regimen and improve your social life, Learn Salsa Dancing, join salsa classes and become a Salsero!

The Health Benefits of Salsa Dancing for Depression

Salsa dancing can be a fun and effective exercise but if a U.K. study holds true, salsa dancing benefits may extend far beyond simple calorie burning. A recent study conducted in the United Kingdom showed that salsa dancing may be beneficial in lifting the mood of those who suffer from symptoms of depression.

In order to look more closely at salsa dancing benefits, a group of researchers in the U.K. recruited twenty-four volunteers previously diagnosed with depression to participate in a study to determine if salsa dancing could help relieve the symptoms of depression. The volunteers were given a standardized written depression evaluation before the salsa dancing classes began. The volunteers then participated in eight one hour salsa dancing classes over a nine week period. The depression evaluation was repeated after the nine week period to assess improvements in overall mood. The researchers were surprised to find that volunteers who had remained in the salsa dancing classes showed significant improvement in their depressive symptoms as well as on their scores on the depression evaluation. The researchers noted that the volunteers who dropped out of the study may have altered the results somewhat.

Although further studies would be necessary to make firm conclusions as to whether the benefits of salsa dancing extend to helping with depression, if effective it certainly provides a safe and effective all natural option for giving depressed patients a sense of accomplishment which may translate into improved mood and greater sense of well being.

It shouldn't be surprising that salsa dancing might benefit depression. Exercise has long been known to improve moods in patients with depressive symptoms and salsa dancing is an energetic form of dancing that raises the heart rate and could potentially increase production of endorphins, the “feel good” hormones responsible for exercise related mood elevations. Plus, salsa dancing provides depressed patients with increased social interaction which reduces their sense of isolation which may have positive benefits. Salsa dancing also provides the depressed patient with a new skill which can help to raise levels of self esteem.

Hopefully, more studies on salsa dancing benefits will show whether or not the improvements in mood were real and sustainable. Many people suffering from depression are looking for alternatives to prescription antidepressants with their undesirable side effects. Salsa dancing could be an activity that would provide multiple benefits to their health and sense of well being. Could salsa dancing be a viable alternative to prescription antidepressants? Only time and further study will tell.