The Cancer Dance

Many people are already familiar with the fact that there are many different styles of dance and dance can help your body in numerous ways. However, most are not familiar with the idea that dance can help with cancer. There are a few ways that dancing and cancer are connected. One of these ways is people dancing to raise money for cancer research. I myself never knew how popular this event is and how many people participate. There are many organizations in the United States alone that has these events. For the past 3 years Orange County CA has held an event called The Cancer Dance-Athon, where participants swing dance for 24 hours. The money raised goes straight to cancer research and treatment. Last year they raised over 175,000 dollars! Another event takes place each year in Chicago called "Dance-Pink". These participants do salsa dancing for an evening and the money raised goes towards breast cancer research. Another event done yearly is by Avon called "A Day of Dance" where participants take dance lessons for a day to raise money for breast cancer research.

There are others ways that dance helps cancer patients. Many people who have been diagnosed with cancer, are receiving treatment, or are survivors will rely on dance to lead them through. Research has shown that each year more and more cancer patients will sign up and take dance lessons. Many of the reasons behind this is for these people to build confidence and trust their bodies again. Belly dancing has become a popular dance for women who had or are being treated for breast cancer. Many of these women enjoy belly dancing because they can feel and move like a women again. This dance is building their self-esteem and self-image in leading a happier life. Baysate Medical Hospital right here in Springfield provides people with cancer to participate in their Cancer Dance Therapy class. This was first open to people with breast cancer and its survivors but it now open to people with any type of cancer. The dance class helps cancer patients and survivors feel fit, physical, and better about themselves.

As you can see there is a lot more to dance then pink ballet slippers and poofy tootoos. Dancing can help people fight through something that is so wide spread and life treatening today. Remember over 10 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year. 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Make an effort to participate in helping this ongoing battle. There are many things you can do and dancing is one of them.

Check these sites out for more information on the relationship between cancer and dancing...

BayState-CancerDanceTherapy

Dance-Athon

Dance-Pink

BellyDancing-BreastCancer

DanceandBreastCancer

Avon-Dance

Listening to Music = Burn More Calories!

Did you know that listening to music can actually help you burn more calories? There are a few ways this can happen. One way is when you are exercising and listening to music. Exercising and listening to music helps your heart rate beat faster, helps you work out longer, and helps you push yourself harder. The music "pumps you up" and if the beat is faster you will be working harder to stay in tune with the song. In turn this all helps you burn more calories. In dance music is listened to the majority of the time. Like a soccer players relationship with a soccerball: a dancers relationship with music is crucial. The benefit is that dancers are burning many calories just by training and listening to music.

Another way music can help you burn more calories is by listening to it while you are eating. Listening to mozart or a soothing piano while eating dinner causes you to eat slower and take smaller bites. This then causes your body to digest the food better and improves your metabolism. Your body will be able to breakdown the calories easier. However, if you are listening to fast rock or pop music while eating your body will do the complete opposite. The music causes you to eat faster and take larger bites of food. In turn your body is having a harder time digesting and your metabolism is slowing. The calories are not being broken down quickly and therefore more are remaining in the body.

A third way music helps burn calories is by just listening to it! Researchers have found that listening to music in general can cause a person to burn 1 calorie per minute. If you are sitting in your room and listening to music for 30 minutes you can burn 30 calories! This is mainly because music (especially music that you like) causes a person to become excited and gets their heart rate up. Even if the music is slower or soothing you are still in a pieceful state of mind and your body is excited for that. However, this does not mean that you should replace expercising with sitting on the couch and listening to music. you only burn some calories...not even close to as many as exercising.

Now you know a few reasons why music can help you burn more calories. Just remember to try and listening to music while working out or exercising, down load some mozart for dinner, and when you want to relax blug in that favorite tune.

Check these sites out for more info...

Nutrition-Data-music

Music-Burns-Calories

Better-Ways-To-Be-Fit

Practice Balancing- It helps with many activities in life!

It is a proven fact that as people get older their ability to balance gets worse. The main reason for this is because as people get older they stop doing activities that require them to balance. Most people say that they took dance classes when they were younger and then after a few years stopped. Dancing requires a lot of balancing techniques like switching from one foot to the other, posing, moving your arms and upper body, dancing with a partner, and much more. When was the last time you danced or did movements like this? Here are some some movements that you can do without going to a dance class or taking lessons...

• Find an open space where you can move
• Put on some upbeat music you enjoy
• Practice lifting up one foot and then the other (a few inches off the ground)
• Do this again and straighten your leg to the front and back
• Now try to add arms and move them in the same motion as your leg

This is a simple activity, but if done often (maybe a few times a week) you will be amazed at how much better your balance is. For more advanced balancing movements you can do activities like yoga and pilates. But start NOW because balance can help prevent Multiple Sclerosis, improves joint and muscle flexibility, builds core strength, reduces stress and more. Remember that one in three people over the age of 65 will experience a fall. Lets not be one of these people and start practicing our balancing abilities early.

Check these website out for more facts and info on the benefits of balancing...

Dancing-Helping-Balance

Balancing-and-Multiple-Sclerosis

Balance-Exercised

Tango Helping Parkinson's Disease

A recent study done by a group of researchers from the University of Washington has proven that doing the tango can actually help people with Parkinson's disease. Those of you that are familiar with what Parkinson's disease is would know that it's a "degenerative disorder of the central nervous system" (the Orlando Sentinel). There is also a numerous amount of symptoms that come with having Parkinson's disease. One of the more critical of these symptoms is a loss of balance. Put two and two together and a dance like the tango, which requires a lot of balance, can be extremely challenging for people with Parkinson's.

So how exactly can dancing the tango help these people? Well, first of all this "sexy" South American dance requires not only balancing skills but its long lengthy steps and movements creates its uniqueness. A person with Parkinson's disease has trouble with both of these factors. They have a hard time balancing, they fall often, and they walk in small steps and "shuffles". Doing the tango makes them move in a way that their bodies do the opposite of. People with Parkinson's also have a hard time thinking ahead and can sometimes freeze in the middle of doing something. However, in doing the tango they need to force themselves to think about what will come next and with the help of there partner there isn't much time for freezing or stopping.

Overall there has been two experiments done with Parkinson's disease and the tango. These researches have found that taking tango lessons has helped their everyday balance, walking, thinking, and it has even shown a slower progression of the disease itself. Perhaps the best improvement of them all is that people with Parkinson's have reported to have more confidence, more self-esteem, and more happiness. Is their anyone that you know with Parkinson's disease? Could you recommend a program like this to anyone? More nursing homes and churches are trying to put a Parkinson's Tango together. Is there any place that you can recommend this program to?

For most information and case studies check out these sites...

OrlandoSentenial-Case-Study

NYtimes-Article

WashingtonUniversity

PressDemocrat-Article

Parkinsons-Tango-in-BOSTON