Dancing is fun and the best part is there is no right or wrong way to do it. Yes, if you learn a specific type of dance, such as ballet, you need to learn the right steps. But, freestyle is all about going with your own flow and simply enjoying the music.
That is the style you are most likely to see children engaging in when undertaking pre-school dance lessons. There is a good reason for this. In fact, there are several reasons why dancing is good for your brain.
1. Builds Intelligence
One reason why dancing is good for your brain is because it helps build intelligence. You may not have considered this before but when you dance you need to make quick decisions. You will need to decide which way to move, how to create a movement mid-flow, and various other things. All of which need an instant decision.
Research has shown that making fast decisions is a good way to stimulate your brain and increase intelligence and your IQ.
2. Coordination
Another reason why dancing is good for your brain is because it helps build coordination. There is evidence that learning to dance improves your hand to eye coordination, and boosts your ability to control the various parts of your body, moving them in different directions at the same time.
This can be a hard skill to learn but a valuable one, and one that your brain will never forget. After all, coordination is invaluable in many different parts of life, from walking to typing, and almost anything else you do.
3. Cognitive Function
Learning to dance, especially when you have to repeat certain moves, means learning new moves and patterns. Whenever you learn something new your brain needs to create new neural pathways. This makes it easier for your brain to access information and increases your ability to remember things. Hence, another reason why dancing is good for your brain!
That’s a great bonus to people of all ages and all you have to do is learn to dance!
4. Confidence
It can be argued that confidence is not driven by the brain. However, there is little doubt that confidence is essential to success in life. The more confident you are the easier it will be to take on new challenges and benefit from them.
Learning to dance gives you a new skill set and that boosts your confidence, even more so if you turn out to be good at it!
5. Reduces Dementia
Lastly, another reason why dancing is good for your brain is that it can help boost cognitive function which in turn can help prevent your brain from deteriorating. Of course, at pre-school age, you may not be concerned about dementia. But, the truth is that creating good lifestyle habits when you are young will help you to maintain those habits throughout life. Dancing and exercise in general, have been shown to boost cognitive function. This effectively reduces the likelihood of dementia. In short, you are using your brain and that prevents it from deteriorating.
Final Thoughts On Why Dancing is Good for the Brain
As an added bonus, learning to dance can be a lot of fun and will help children and adults to meet new people. This is likely to improve social skills and may even create new friendships.
And, as loneliness is one of the biggest problems for older people, creating lasting friendships when you are young makes good sense.