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20.12.2019

Exercise is healthy, and therefore ballroom dancing too

If you want to exercise more but don't like sports or walking, think about ballroom dancing. According to exercise scientists from the American Brigham Young University, ballroom dancing is just as intensive - so just as healthy - as a brisk walk.

Study
The researchers monitored the oxygen and calorie consumption of 24 test subjects who had to dance for half an hour.

The subjects had 3-144 months of experience. They danced for 4 minutes in succession the waltz [95 bpm], the foxtrot [128 bpm], the swing [132 bpm], the chacha [132 bpm] and again the swing [132 bpm]. The subjects rested for 2 minutes between the 4-minute sessions.

Results
Including rest periods, the subjects burned an average of 5.88 kilocalories per minute.

In total, the test subjects burned around 175 kilocalories in half an hour. Doctors and organizations such as the American College of Sports Medicine believe that people should burn at least 1,000 kilocalories per week due to moderate-vigorous exercise. This would mean a 20 percent reduction in the risk of death.

Ballroom dancing can make a relevant contribution to achieving those 1,000 kilocalories per week, the researchers think.

The number of months of dance experience is not a factor. The researchers found no relationship between the number of months of experience and calorie consumption.

What does matter is whether you lead or follow. Whoever leads uses more energy than who follows. But on the other hand, the calorie consumption of leaders and followers is related to each other. The more energy the leading dance partner uses, the more energy the following dance partner consumes.

Conclusion
"Recreational ballroom dance consisting of waltz, foxtrot, cha-cha, and swing match the recommended intensities for cardiorespiratory fitness by the American College of Sports Medicine," the researchers summarize.

"Ballroom dance can be an effective entry point for increased aerobic fitness and can be used by health professionals to increase health and fitness or varying populations with the current understanding that recreational ballroom dance does, in fact, meet the criteria for moderate-vigorous aerobics exercise."

Source:
Int J Exerc Sci. 2019;7(3):228-35.

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