It’s a basic need: no body can resist the urge to sway to a good beat. So, don’t hesitate to push the table aside and sway. The key? More creativity, intelligence, attractiveness, and self-confidence.
1. Dancing improves your mood…
Dancing helps combat depression and even serious psychological disorders. How? Dancing gets the body moving, and exercise and sport are known to significantly reduce psychological problems, especially in people with depression. A 2018 analysis of dozens of studies conducted by the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) showed that sport has an effect comparable to that of antidepressants and psychotherapy. Even people with serious mental disorders experience fewer symptoms if they engage in intense physical activity.
As Harvard psychiatry professor John Ratey points out, when we exercise, our bodies produce a whole series of neurotransmitters, like serotonin and noradrenaline—or norepinephrine—that calm the fear response in the brain. These substances also stimulate the area of the brain that helps with planning and impulse control. The more intensely you exercise, the greater the effect. Even if it’s not your particular thing, chances are good that exercise will have a positive effect on your mood. Just listening to music you enjoy already triggers a dopamine hit in your reward system.
2…and reduces stress
Having fun strengthens the prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain that inhibits the amygdala and dampens our response to negative and anxiety-provoking stimuli. Dancing may even be more effective than suppressing the stressors themselves, writes psychotherapist Carin Karsten. Cortisol levels, the stress hormone, also decrease during exercise, while dancing stimulates the production of testosterone and oxytocin, the feel-good hormones.
3. Learning the steps gives confidence
Practice makes perfect. Even the most clumsy can try a few dance steps; it’s good for their self-confidence! Not only does dancing strengthen and loosen our muscles, and help us feel better about ourselves, but it also gives us a mental boost. Psychologists call this effect “self-mastery”: when we succeed in learning something for a specific purpose, we feel more in control in other areas. This positive experience therefore extends to other aspects of our lives! Not everyone is necessarily gifted at salsa or breakdancing. Perhaps you realize, after hours of practice, that it really isn’t your cup of tea. But the simple act of trying is positive in itself: you have overcome an obstacle and opened yourself up to a new experience.
4. Dancing makes you attractive
People who sway their hips on the dance floor radiate health. And that makes them more attractive to potential partners. British psychologist Peter Lovatt studied dancers and discovered that men who performed energetic, sweeping, complex, and coordinated movements were also asymmetrical—like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Men who dance this way have been found to have high testosterone levels.
Women, on the other hand, are more attractive when their testosterone levels are low, which is during the most fertile time of their cycle. Their hip movements are more pronounced and they move their limbs less. You’ll find numerous explanatory videos on this topic on YouTube.
5. Merge with the other
Whether you’re doing synchronized ballet, jumping in the air on an electric guitar, or dancing together to a disco hit, any shared sensory experience creates an emotional connection. According to American psychologist Robert Cialdini, this phenomenon is linked to that of unity. When people do something “hand in hand,” they literally become one. This was demonstrated a few years ago by a study conducted by Stanford University. Students had to cross the campus either in different groups and at the same pace, or individually. Following the experience, those who had done it in a group felt more connected, they trusted each other more, and were even less selfish during the game they were then invited to participate in.
Why? Because the more we move in unison, the more we perceive each other as a part of ourselves, and the stronger our mutual solidarity and loyalty. Also known as “muscular cohesion,” we activate our muscles in time with the same rhythm, coordinate our movements, and feel united. A Harvard University study showed that simply tapping out the rhythm with our fingers promotes mutual appreciation. According to Robert Cialdini, an activity that involves sharing the same sensory experience, such as dancing, creates a bond faster than a good conversation.
6. Your relationship becomes more intimate
Couples therapy through tango? Yes, it exists. Since we must listen to each other to dance together, you can uncover unwanted patterns from everyday life. And perhaps talk about them afterward.
But dancing with your partner can have another beneficial effect on your relationship: by touching, you create a kind of intimacy. According to a French study on social influence, physical contact promotes listening. Dancing also increases mutual emotional involvement. American psychologist Matthew Hertenstein discovered that, nearly four out of five times, blindfolded subjects were able to name the emotion that another participant dancing with them was trying to convey. Couples were able to convey even more emotion through touch alone.
7. You gain in creativity
“Letting loose” from time to time to a rousing tune helps free us from the worries and responsibilities of everyday life. Brain research shows that carefree behavior, with no other goal than to have fun, makes us more creative. The best thing? Dancing “freely,” that is, letting our bodies follow the music without question. Jaak Panksepp, a professor of neuroscience at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, has shown that active play, to which this type of dance certainly belongs, leads to the production of substances that stimulate neuronal growth in the brain, particularly in areas involved in problem-solving. People who regularly let loose to music appear to be more adept at divergent thinking, which allows them to find solutions and different angles of approach to a problem.
8. Dancing makes you smarter
But following more repetitive steps, such as in line dancing or ballet, is also good for the brain, according to an experiment by English psychologist Peter Lovatt. While free dance stimulates divergent thinking, practicing complex dances increases the ability to reason convergently. Those who practice these types of dance find answers more quickly to questions requiring precise steps, such as math problems.
In 2019, Brazilian researchers compiled over a thousand studies to assess the influence of dance on the adult brain. They discovered that regular practice promotes collaboration between different areas of the brain. The volume of the hippocampus, including the gray matter (neurons) and white matter (nerve fibers or axons) it contains, increases in dancers, improving memory and concentration.
9. Rejuvenation treatment
Many people stop dancing as they get older. However, this practice makes people less vulnerable to dementia and other aging-related pathologies. Symptoms can even diminish. German researcher Kathrin Rehfeld, from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, recently discovered a significant difference between simply doing fitness or dancing: only older people who had learned different dances for several weeks saw their sense of balance actually improve. Their hippocampus had grown in size, which also allowed them to learn and remember better. This effect was even more pronounced in patients with Parkinson’s. Not only did symptoms such as balance problems, coordination problems, and stiffness diminish, but also, for example, difficulty solving problems and recovering from depressive disorders. The results of psychologist Peter Lovatt’s latest study are even more spectacular: musical rhythms that roughly match the speed of one’s walking steps allowed patients to regain some control over their movements. According to Lovatt, this is likely because music restarts the production of dopamine—necessary for walking—that is disrupted in Parkinson’s patients.
10. State of full consciousness
Finally, there is a reason we all know, and which psychiatry professor John Ratey explains in these terms: when we dance, we forget for a moment our problems and everyday worries, and we think only of the present moment. Whether we let ourselves be carried away by the music to reach a kind of trance, or whether we concentrate on a very precise choreography, our brain is totally absorbed. We are no longer aware of ourselves and our perception of time fades – a delicious feeling.