It is no secret that dancing is, and has been, an extremely well-loved form of maintaining one’s physical health, alongside being a popular form of recreation, and an underrated choice of career. Not only does it get your muscles working, its impact reaches every part of the body. The fact that dance can be customized to fit one’s needs, and that grooving to your favourite songs can immediately bring a smile to your face, also contribute to the popularity of dance as a physical exercise.
It has recently come to light that dancing also heavily affects one of the most important organs of our body – the brain. Since dance is a medium through which music and movement harmonise, the brain stimulates all its centers related to both, namely the reward centres and the sensory and motor circuits. The motor cortex plans and executes voluntary movements, while also working with the basal ganglia to coordinate these movements. The cerebellum facilitates the integration of these voluntary movements with our senses and hence, makes them more fluid and precise. All these centres of the brain work together to manoeuvre the simultaneous movement of over six hundred muscles, and in doing so, highlight the beauty of the brain’s functioning.
Other than stimulating these parts of the brain, several studies conducted have shown that dance improves the connection between the two cerebral hemispheres, and that practising dance long-term increases neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to form new neural connections and cause neurons to change and adapt to new situations and freshly obtained information. An increase in neuroplasticity also translates to an increase in cognitive activity, which means that by constantly rewiring and rearranging its neural pathways, a dancer’s brain is, in turn, able to make connections between ideas quicker, improve decision making and critical thinking, and boost the dancer’s memory. It also helps in increasing the complexity of the neural pathways, thus slowing down the weakening of synapses, and hence, decelerating the process of aging.
Dancing has also begun to gain traction as a highly efficient method of therapy, generally known as Dance/Movement Therapy, or DMT. It is increasingly being used in the treatment of dementia, and patients who pursue dancing as a therapeutic measure have not only used it as an outlet for expressing themselves better and in turn reducing agitation, they have also experienced a significant decrease in confusion, anxiety and memory loss. A 76% decrease in the risk of dementia was also observed in elders who partook in dancing for leisure. Dance has also been used as therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease, showing a steady increase in cognitive performance and coordination. Dancing frequently has also shown to increase the quality of mental health in both patients and non-patients, causing an increase in muscle memory, hand-eye coordination and visual recognition. It also provides a serotonin boost to the body, thus contributing to the reduction of stress. A study conducted in adolescents also proved that dance, as a hobby and as therapy, helped create a positive body image and build self-esteem and confidence, while reducing clinical symptoms of depression and anxiety.
The effects of dance on the brain are numerous, and this comes as no surprise, as the fine art form is created when the brain works in synchrony with the body and moulds it into different silhouettes to create vivid imagery. One does not need to be a professional dancer to use dance to express themselves or to use it to experience its healing effects. All one needs is the will that urges them to move to the beat of their favourite song.
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