International Dance Day 2019: Amazing things that happen to the body and brain when we dance

International Dance Day is a global day celebrated every year on 29^th April to celebrate dance and also to remember the anniversary of the birth of Jean-Georges Noverre, the creator of modern ballet. Be it for passion, culture or a career, humans for as long as one can remember have always been dancing. When one turn back the pages of time, we have seen that our ancestors painted their cave walls with pictures of dancers, meaning, dance has been a part of a human existence ever since.

So, does the physical act that has the ability to lift the spirits any good for the human body? Absolutely! The human body which is like a complex machine needs fuel to run, and then turn that fuel into energy. These are hence the amazing things that happens to the body and brain when we dance:

Dancing enhances neuroplasticity: According to a study led by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, people who dance regularly have greater cognitive reserves and an increased complexity of neuronal synapses. Dancing also lowered the risk of dementia by improving these neural qualities causing the brain to continually rewire its neural pathways and by doing so help with neuroplasticity.

Dance is therapeutic: Dance have been known to influence health through neurochemical in motivation, pleasure, stress and arousal and even immunity. Dance is hence used a s therapy with traumatized patients such as child survivors of war and torture and also with children in regular education. It has also been used extensively in the work with elderly patients, with psychotic and schizophrenic patients, people with eating disorders, prison inmates dealing with violence and addiction issues, children and adults with different kinds of developmental disabilities.

Dance help prevent dizziness: Studies show that through years of practice and training, dancers gain the ability to suppress signals from the balance organs in the inner ear that are linked to the cerebellum. Dr. Barry Seemungal of the Department of Medicine at Imperial adds that the signal going to the brain areas responsible for perception of dizziness in the cerebral cortex is reduced, making dancers resistant to feeling dizzy.