Born To Dance- 5 Upsides To Busting A Move

Want to feel younger, smarter, more creative and live longer. Then maybe you should bust a move and dance like no one is watching.

Just about everyone in our house loves to dance like no one is watching.

As soon as they can stand kids just seem to want to bop to a beat.

I loved watching ours do that little wiggle, bounce, bounce, shake thing they all seem to do.

It turns out that we are biologically born to dance.

 And dancing is something that transcends almost every cultural boundary.

I love to dance, albeit sometimes to the embarrassment of my kids, particularly when I happen to bust a move to the tune that comes on in a grocery store. Or to my friends, who have made fun of me over the years for going for it on the dance floor.

The thing is, I don’t care, and neither should you because there's a load of upsides to busting a move. Turns out the guy who is willing to go all Saturday Night Fever rather than be caught dead doing a shuffle, shuffle, shoulder shrug hand bop handbag dance has more testosterone. In your face handbag dancer.

And there is a whole load of the science behind this bloody awesome feeling activity.

 Don’t get me wrong I haven’t always been like this. Way back in my high school days I was the last bloke to go up and ask anyone to dance. That whole face-off between boys and girls in the gym for formal dance lessons every Christmas was like staring down the barrel of a gun.

I was terrified.

Thanks though to Scout fundraising dances, where my Mum and a whole bunch of her friends who would literally drag me up on a good old salted floor wooden dance floor in the local community halls… I learned to get over that fear and can cut a mean rug.

It probably comes as no surprise then, when I say I love movies like Footloose, Flash Dance, and Dirty Dancing. I love a whole slew of other films as well, but for this post, let’s stick with the dancing stuff.

What else you ask? How’s about this…

Upside 1: Do you want to improve your “convergent thinking” (that’s the sort of logical problem stuff that has one answer, think 5 x 3 = 15? Try dancing. It helps you solve that kind of problem faster.

Upside 2: Do you want to improve your “divergent thinking”? Well, that’s the creativity thing. Believe it or not, dancing helps with that one too.

Still not convinced that you should be tapping toes, bopping your shoulders and letting loose? 

Upside 3: Dance has been shown to help improve the lives of patients with neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s. Dance has been found to help improve balance, walking, reduce anxiety, improve mood, and increase vigor.

Still not enough? How about this one.

Upside 4: It doesn’t just stop your brain withering away as you age, it may, in fact, help it grow. Your brains Hippocampus the part that helps long term memory and spatial navigation shrinks on average by 1-2% per year. Oh, that hippocampus thingy also helps with mood, so if you’re a grumpy bastard then maybe you should be dancing more.

So, we have covered a few physical and cognitive benefits of dancing.

There is also the social aspect.

Upside 5: Strong social connections help you live longer, boost your immune system, improve your mental health. Oh, and it also makes you a nicer person. And since you are easier to be around people tend to be more trusting and cooperative with you.

Maybe it’s time to take a moment, chill out, and bust a move.

I have taken the time to build this into my productivity routine, and l love the results that I’ve gained from it.

Maybe don’t take my word for it, as I have always done things a bit differently than others...

Try it for yourself and see how it goes.