Just coming off Super Bowl Sunday, it’s easy to talk about who could run faster, who could pass more accurately, kick farther and just plain who was in the best shape to work to the end of the game – and what amounted to overtime. But this post is not about football or about who Taylor Swift was rooting for…shame on you if you don’t know. But I digress.
As your older loved ones age and as we all get older, it’s very easy to gain weight by not doing the good things we used to do – exercise – as well as the wrong things that we now do – sitting. So, our health can begin the decline down that slippery slope toward a bit more weight and a bit less fitness and a lot less healthy. I’m going to get radical and suggest having fun can help you lose weight and get into much better shape.
Dancing can be a great cure for what ails us…too much fat that we carry around and that we continue to accumulate without activity. But you say, I have cut back on the “bad foods” that I used to enjoy. Just cutting back on our caloric intake is not enough, because without activity, we’re telling our bodies to begin converting what we already have into the energy to survive. Unfortunately, that typically means we’re feeding our body the muscle tissue, not the fat. We’re hard-wired to do that.
I mentioned dancing. In a meta-analysis (research of a number of similarly focused research efforts) people who danced regularly for at least three months lost, on average, about four pounds compared with those who did not dance. And almost all of that was body fat. Their biomarkers also improved, musculoskeletal function, cognition, mental health and general quality of life. For couples, it also improves their relationships.
But at its core, the research suggests that if we add the element of un into what otherwise we might simply call exercise, that it’s better for our bodies. And if you are a solo adult, virtually all the gyms have Zumba, Latin dancing, line dancing, dance aerobics and even pole dancing – no, not that kind. The key is to make the fun of the dance/exercise to be the definition of the activity and everything good follows. My partner has his own dance we refer to as “wild abandon.” You don’t have to be dancing with the stars to benefit from movement to music!
It is estimated that one must dance about 12 hours total to lose a pound, but don’t get caught up in counting that. Appreciate that the dancing lifts your spirits, makes you less prone to falls and better able to maintain a lower blood pressure.
Start with three tunes on your phone…that’s about ten minutes of dance, and you’ll be on your way to your happy and your healthy place!
Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Advisor, Retirement Lifestyle Coach and founder of Creative Care Management, LLC, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. She also is the co-author of How Do I Know You? A Caregiver’s Lifesaver for Dealing with Dementia.
