Dance like nobody’s watching - because It’s good for you (warning - not really that neurosciency)

Who knew your solo kitchen dance parties, while cooking, could double as exercise? A study looked at the fitness benefits of free form solo dancing.

It showed that adults, even pretty old ones, can groove their way to better health.

The Study
Participants ages 18 - 83, with varying levels of dance experience, danced in five-minute sessions freely and at self-determined effort levels, both with and without music. The results? Dancing isn’t just about fun—it’s a legitimate cardio workout, with music cranking up the energy burn even more.

The study evaluated absolute intensity during dance sessions by using indirect calorimetry to calculate metabolic equivalents (called METs) based on oxygen consumption per unit of body weight and time.

Relative intensity was assessed through participants’ ratings of perceived exertion on the Borg scale and their heart rate measurements.

Heart rates during these sessions hit 76% of the participants’ predicted maximum rate and 74% of their heart rate reserve, meaning they were squarely in the moderate-to-vigorous intensity zone.

Without music, dancers burned an average of 5.6 MET, the measure of energy expenditure. When tunes were added, the effort increased significantly, showing that the right beat might be more important than the dance skills (or lack thereof).

The results revealed that even self-choreographed dancing can be intense enough to benefit heart health, burning energy at levels comparable to moderate physical activity.

So dance, dance like it's the last, last night of your life (Usher)
This research proves that free-form dancing is a versatile and accessible way to stay active and hit our weekly physical activity targets. It’s an inclusive workout as age and experience didn’t matter much in the study in regards to fitness effect.

So go ahead, turn up the music, and dance like nobody’s watching. It’s not just fun—it’s science-approved fitness! And hey, if anyone asks, tell them you’re performing “IRL research.”

Know that science is cheering you on—even if your moves are questionable!

About the scientific paper:

First author: Aston K McCullough, USA
Published: PLoS One, November 2024
Link to paper: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0313144