Going out with friends this weekend? Perfect, that is one step to leading a healthier lifestyle.
Humans often cannot help, but tap their feet or bob their head when music is played. Dancing is often used as a pass time between friends and families when celebrating or even reducing stress. Well a new study finds, dancing with friends is actually make humans healthier, and it is more than burning a few calories on the dance floor.
The study published by Quartz.com found that moving ones body in time with another creates a pleasurable experience for both parties. "When two or more people synchronize to the same rhythm and engage in the same movements at the same time, it creates a sense of bonding that connects the people," explains EDM.com.
Group dancing causes your body to then release endorphins, which make the brain happy. As Quartz speculates, the sense of cohesion and inclusion may be the endorphins are released. "In fact, the social closeness humans feel when doing synchronized activities may be because they trigger the release of a cocktail of bonding hormones, including endorphins."
The rise in endorphins levels also created a higher threshold for pain. A recent study found those who danced in a synchronized group versus an unsynchronized group held a higher tolerance to pain. As Quartz.com explains, they studied 264 young dancers in Brazil. They were placed in groups for synchronized and unsynchronized routines with high and low exertions. "The high exertion moves were all standing, full bodied movements, and those in the low-exertion groups did small hand movements sitting down. Before and after the activity, we measured the teenagers' feelings of closeness to each other via a questionnaire. We also measured their pain threshold by attaching and inflating a blood pressure cuff on their arm, and determining how much pressure they could stand."
The study found, regardless of a high or lower exertion routine, dancers in synchronized groups exhibited a higher tolerance for pain. In addition, the synchronized activity encouraged bonding and made the groups feel closer.
In that case, it will not hurt to bust a move with a friend or two at a few holiday parties this season.