Dancing makes you lose weight and is as good for your health as classic training

Dance? Yes, it can be a way to lose weight. Especially for those who are overweight. A new study from the School of Physical Education of Hunan University of Science and Technology in Xiangtan, China, published in the journal Plos One also found that dancing improves blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, general fitness, cognitive function and mental health. Additionally, dancing can also help manage various health conditions such as diabetes, gallstones, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. In addition, as mentioned, to intervening on the body composition decreasing abdominal circumference and fat mass.

We know it well: physical exercise remains the main way to best deal with these conditions. However, maintaining habits and exercising – perhaps running or going to the gym – can be difficult in the long term. Especially if you're not having too much fun. The researchers suggest that dancing, being a form of social exercise and precisely very funnycan be an ideal solution to support routines, since it is more likely that you will tend to give up less or later than any other workout that you are not particularly passionate about.

«Dance is effective on fat loss in overweight and obese people and generates a significant improvement in body composition and morphology. Thanks to its high efficiency and greater sense of fun, dancing can be a useful exercise intervention for fat loss – the researchers wrote – as a form of physical activity that integrates exercise, entertainment and sociability, dance has innate advantages in promoting motivation. A lasting more than three monthstogether with the forms of creative dance, is more conducive to achieving clinical goals related to improving body composition.” In short, one evening is not enough but you don't even need to become particularly good.

«At the same time as fat loss, dance preserves and improves the body morphology of the participants and is particularly suitable for young population (under 45 years) as a substitute for traditional exercise protocols in terms of fat loss” the scientists added. But how did Chinese scholars arrive at similar conclusions? The research team analyzed data from 646 overweight or obese participants involved in 10 different studies, so it is a meta-analysis. Their results revealed that dancing is indeed very effective in improving body composition. In particular, more creative dance forms have produced more significant improvements in body composition than traditional dance forms.

Not only that: the group observed further benefits in overweight children and in patients with Parkinson's disease. Although researchers found similar fat loss to that achieved through aerobic exercise, resistance training, and high-intensity interval training, dancing showed a rather significant advantage in reducing the percentage of fat. This effect is apparently due to its nature as a full-body exercise that is less likely to induce short-term fatigue. As a result, it makes it an easier exercise to sustain than other forms of movement and training.

Let's swing: all the benefits of dancing

Dance, because it's beautiful and good to train at home (together with Roberto Bolle!)