Need a Cure for the Exercise Blues?

by Ceci Martin

Is the same old workout routine boring you back down the road of inactivity? Take a hint from Madonna and “let your body move to the music.”

Shake it, swing it, shimmy it - dancing is good for the body and mind. Recognized by health and fitness professionals as a strategy for staying healthy, dancing can lead to improved self-esteem, stress reduction and an overall sense of well being.

“When people open up and express themselves on a physical and verbal level you can visibly see the tension drain away, muscles relax,” said Terrie Velazquez, a marriage and family therapist. Velazquez, who holds a master's degree in creative arts therapy specializing in dance, sees movement as a tool for self-expression, a physical way to connect with emotions. Getting patients to breathe deeply is vital to reduce stress and calm the mind, said Velazquez, and even moderate exercise forces us to breathe.

Consistency in exercising is the key to fitness, according to the Surgeon General's report on physical activity and health, released in 1996. The main message of the report was simple - with moderate amounts of physical activity (30 minutes per day) people can make significant improvements in health. One way to make exercise a daily habit is to incorporate physical activities you enjoy.

Problems arise when your workout routine becomes stagnant and boredom stifles the initial rush of enthusiasm. Changing your game plan not only keeps you mentally fresh, it can help your muscles stay sharp and strong by meeting the new demands of varied movement.

Dancing can help improve balance, coordination and flexibility, according to Sheri Vial, a local physical therapist. “When you're dancing you're moving your feet, standing on one leg, spinning, twisting,” she said. Vial, who owns Senior Fitness and Physical Therapy, recalls a patient who began line dancing in her 70s. With severe osteoporosis, the woman was no longer dancing in her 90s but Vial credits her dance workouts for her ability to maintain her strength and balance even with a debilitating condition. “Anybody else would have been in a wheelchair,” said Vial, “but because of her dancing she only needed a cane.”

Workouts, such as dancing, that focus on speed and agility may help prevent the loss of flexibility that seems to come with aging. Approximately one-third of people aged 50 and older are sedentary, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since dancing can be so much fun, both Velazquez and Vial see its advantage as a form of exercise that people will stick with. “When people stop moving then things start going downhill - physically, emotionally, mentally,” Velazquez said.