Exercise is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle and provides several significant benefits to individuals from all walks of life. That being said, it’s essential to adjust the intensity of the activity and exercise to suit you and your loved one’s individual needs.
In most cases, it’s best to incorporate light and fun workout activities into an older adult’s routines. Dancing, for example, makes a fantastic, fun exercise option for your loved ones. Alongside its several health benefits, dancing is a great way to stretch the body, maintain mobility, and stay in good shape.
At Seasons Retirement, we encourage our residents to engage in dance exercises to stay fit and healthy. Our communities enable your parents and grandparents to enjoy dancing in a fun group environment.
Let’s go over some of the most popular styles of dance exercise options, as well as the health benefits of dance exercise for seniors.
Dance exercises can go a long way towards helping your older loved one stay fit and healthy. These dance forms often double as low-impact aerobic exercises and are one of the best ways to remain in excellent shape.
We encourage our older residents to participate in senior dance classes, as exercising in a group can be a great motivational tool to continue attending their workout sessions and a fantastic way to socialize and have fun. Seasons offers plenty of recreational spaces and resources to organize dance classes for seniors, where residents can enjoy exercising and interacting with each other and the staff.
The following are some suitable styles for dance exercises for seniors:
Like regular workouts, dance exercises positively impact the general well-being of adults and are particularly beneficial to their physical and mental health. Here are seven major benefits of dance exercise for seniors.
Dancing increases the heart rate, which supports proper blood circulation within the body. This, in turn, allows for a better supply of oxygen and other essential nutrients to be distributed throughout the body, which helps maintain good health.
Additionally, an increased heart rate strengthens the heart muscles, which keeps the heart in good health and reduces the risk of developing stress, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases in older adults.
Dancing is a great activity to help boost your loved one’s fitness levels. If practiced regularly, this aerobic exercise can burn excess calories and maintain a healthy body weight.
Furthermore, even simple, less strenuous dance movements have been proven to help maintain mobility and prevent joint pain caused by arthritis and other restrictive conditions. This allows older adults to retain a good level of mobility and independence in their day-to-day lives.
Dancing is a fun activity and mood booster for people of all ages. Participants are much more likely to remain happy and vibrant throughout their lives from the social aspect of dance and the natural positive vibes experienced through motion and music.
An Australian experimental study found that even individuals with mood disorders showed increased mental health after participating in a two-week tango dancing class.
Dancing is a great way to stay sharp and focused and have fun as you learn new moves with your friends, so it’s always a good idea for older adults to try out senior dancing classes to have fun and maintain wellness.
Physical qualities, such as balance, strength, and stamina, remain vital as we age, and it’s a good idea to preserve them to maintain a healthy and independent lifestyle.
Dancing requires good balance and stamina, as it typically involves shifting weight and motions that include using your motor skills. With the guidance of a skilled instructor, your loved ones can sharpen their coordination and balance while having fun learning new moves.
There is a strong relationship between dance and memory retention, and it’s been proven that dance workouts are a great form of mental exercise. Memorizing steps and overall choreography stimulates the memory centers, making it a good way to keep yourself sharp as you work on getting your moves down right.
Dancing can also have many additional wellness benefits, such as helping stave off the effects of conditions such as dementia. Furthermore, it’s a fantastic choice in assisting older people in honing their ‘muscle memory’ – the ability to remember and perform movements acquired through practice.
With proven benefits like these, dance exercises are an excellent option for anyone looking to have their older loved ones have fun and sharpen their memory.
Dancing is often a group activity, which creates plenty of opportunities for your loved ones to socialize and interact with others. Joining a senior dance fitness class allows retirement community residents to meet new people and maintain social connections that, in turn, lead to numerous wellness benefits.
Your loved ones will not only make new friends and build new relationships, but they will also find comfort and encouragement in knowing they’re participating in exercise with dance partners.
Dancing can make your loved ones feel better in all aspects of their life – physically, socially, mentally, and emotionally. As a result, their self-esteem and sense of independence can receive a major boost. Dancing can positively influence how your loved ones view themselves and the world around them.
Your older loved one may be hesitant to participate in dancing exercises for many reasons. Perhaps, they are scared they won’t be good dancers, feel they aren’t fit enough to engage in such activity, or aren’t coordinated enough.
But dance provides several benefits, from socializing to fitness, and at the end of the day, it’s one of the best ways to have fun while exercising to stay fit and healthy.
So don’t hesitate; consider dance exercise for seniors as a valid fitness option for older loved ones. Seasons Retirement dedicates plenty of time and resources towards organizing stimulating fitness activities, such as dancing, and we can help your loved ones have fun while staying healthy.