According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) heart disease kills 610,000 people a year. When that number is broken down even further and analyzed in conjunction with the total amount of deaths each year in the United States (“US”) it is revealed that heart disease is responsible for 1 in every 4 deaths in the US.
Contrary to what some may think, heart disease is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the US with the disease the cause of more than half of male deaths in 2009. There are a number of risk factors which can increase a person’s chances of developing heart disease such as diabetes, being overweight/obesity, bad diet, lack of physical activity, and alcohol abuse.
With that said, researchers began to look at activities like dancing to see if there were any benefits in the fight against heart disease. What the study found was that moderate intensity dancing may help lower the risk of developing heart disease. Moderate intensity walking is also another acceptable form of activity.
More and more research is revealing that moderate activity will go a long ways in helping us live healthy lives. A recent study also revealed how an increase in your level of physical activity may help prevent Type 2 Diabetes.
The news reports on the study suggest that light intensity dancing is not as effective as moderate intensity dancing.
The study looked at data from 1995 to 2007 in the UK and looked at 48,000 adults aged 40 and older with no heart disease baseline. Questions in the survey focused around walking and dancing. Interestingly enough, the people who danced seemed to be younger and had a lower body mass index as compared to the people in the survey who did not dance.
For anyone who is thinking of starting an exercise routine it is strongly suggested that you speak with your doctor before starting the plan.
The article in support of this post can be found HERE.
