Dance Your Way to a Healthy Body

Do you love to dance? Good news! You can dance your way to health. Dancing will:

Lower your risk of coronary heart disease

Help keep your heart in good shape and can lead to a reduced heart rate over time

Help you manage or lose weight

Strengthen the bones of your legs or hips

Condition your body

Build and increase stamina

Develop your circulatory system

Strengthen and tone your muscles

Increase your flexibility and balance

Relieve stress and improve your mood

Lower your blood pressure and improve your cholesterol levels

Allows you to have fun while getting fit...

That's a dozen good things dancing does for you and your body!

Different types of dancing burn more calories. Aerobic dancing burns the highest amount of calories. It can burn up to 540 calories in an hour.

Ball room dancing burns around 250 to 400 calories, square dancing about 280 calories, ballet about 300 calories, salsa dancing burns around 400 calories in an hour.

Even if you don't dance for a full hour you still get great benefits. Dancing for 10 to 20 minutes 3 times a day is a good way to get extra exercise in. Put on some music that makes you want to shake your boodie and make up your own dances. The point is to keep moving and dancing is a fun way to do that.

If you check out your local community centers or collages you can generally find dance classes at a reasonable rate. It's a wonderful way to meet new friends too.

Your fitness expert

Lynn    www.getrealfit.org