Dance practice and well-being correlates in young women

Creativity in lockdown: Understanding how music and the arts supported mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic by age group

Recent research has indicated that many people around the world turned to artistic creative activities (ACAs) to support their mental health during COVID-19 lockdowns. However, studies have also shown that the negative psychosocial impacts of the pandemic have disproportionately affected young people, suggesting that the use of ACAs to support mental health in lockdown may have varied across age groups. This study investigated how Australians in four different age groups (18–24, 25–34, 35–54, and 55+) engaged in ACAs to support their mental health during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns. Participants (N = 653) recruited from the general public completed an online survey between May and October 2020, in which they reported which ACAs they had undertaken during the pandemic using an established list. Participants subsequently ranked undertaken ACAs in terms of effectiveness at making them “feel better,” and those who had engaged in musical ACAs also completed the Musical Engagement Questionnaire (MusEQ). Additionally, ratings of anxiety (GAD7) and depression (PHQ9) symptoms were obtained and examined for potential variations across four diverse variables: age, exercise, gender and state/territory of residence. ACA rankings showed that younger participants overwhelmingly rated musical activities as most effective, while, with the exception of singing, those aged 55+ rated non-musical activities as being most effective. These differences were further supported by ratings for all six MusEQ subscales, with responses strongly indicating that the youngest participants (aged 18–24) used music in significantly different ways during the pandemic than participants in all other age groups. Specifically, these youngest participants were more likely to integrate music into daily life, use music for emotion regulation, respond to music in embodied ways, and use music to perform a social identity. In line with prior research, further analyses indicated that symptoms of anxiety and depression were lessened for older participants, as well for those who reported exercising more during the lockdowns. These findings provide insight into how ACAs can support mental health during a pandemic crisis for specific age groups, which may inform future policy directions, and suggestions for how this can be done are provided.

Shall We Dance? Recreational Dance, Well-Being and Productivity Performance During COVID-19: A Three-Country Study

Mental health issues are increasingly prevalent worldwide, emphasizing the need to research antecedents and consequences of well-being. Prior research shows that within organizations, higher levels of subjective well-being (SWB) promote productivity performance. Building on this research, the authors hypothesize that recreational dance positively influences productivity through higher SWB. Survey data from Brazil, Italy, and the United Kingdom reveal that recreational dancers are more productive than nondancers due to their higher intrinsic motivation and SWB. Dancing has an additional direct effect on productivity, beyond the mediating role of SWB. The results indicate well-being and productivity improvements in all three countries, although they show a moderating effect such that the relationship between recreational dance and SWB is stronger when social norms are perceived to be looser. This study indicates potentially far-reaching benefits that could be achieved by including recreational dance in corporate well-being programs. International dance organizations could market dance classes as a pathway to increase productivity at work and explore synergies with public health marketing to promote the benefits of recreational dance in joint international campaigns.

Can Dance and Music Make the Transition to a Sustainable Society More Feasible?

Transition to sustainability is a process that requires change on all levels of society from the physical to the psychological. This review takes an interdisciplinary view of the landscapes of research that contribute to the development of pro-social behaviors that align with sustainability goals, or what we call 'inner sustainability'. Engaging in musical and dance activities can make people feel trust and connectedness, promote prosocial behavior within a group, and also reduce prejudices between groups. Sustained engagement in these art forms brings change in a matter of seconds (such as hormonal changes and associated stress relief), months (such as improved emotional wellbeing and learning outcomes), and decades (such as structural changes to the brains of musicians and dancers and superior skills in expressing and understanding emotion). In this review, we bridge the often-separate domains of the arts and sciences by presenting evidence that suggests music and dance promote self-awareness, learning, care for others and wellbeing at individual and group levels. In doing so, we argue that artistic practices have a key role to play in leading the transformations necessary for a sustainable society. We require a movement of action that provides dance and music within a constructive framework for stimulating social sustainability.

Psychological impact of COVID-19 lockdowns among adult women: the predictive role of individual differences and lockdown duration

COVID-19 pandemic has altered women's mental health as a consequence of the global threat and the lockdown measures adopted by public health policies. It has been suggested that women are at a higher risk for mood alterations, but most of the studies are cross-sectional or have only considered the first days of the confinement in their longitudinal designs. The present study was aimed at evaluating temporal changes in anxiety and depression in a general sample of 155 non-infected adult Spanish women after a complete quarantine. It also explored the predictive role of personality, the establishment of new routines and physical activity during lockdown in a pre-post design assessing temporal and clinical mood changes after 5 weeks of lockdown. Logistic regression analyses showed that higher neuroticism and depressive levels at baseline, lower routines engagement, and lower physical activity during lockdown predicted depression caseness, whereas anxiety caseness was best predicted by higher neuroticism, more days of lockdown and greater anxiety symptoms at baseline. It is concluded that lockdown duration, increased neuroticism and baseline levels of anxiety and depression are risk factors for women's mental health, while routines and physical activity emerge as protective factors for managing psychological wellbeing during the pandemic lockdowns.

Analysis of the intervention effect and self-satisfaction of sports dance exercise on the psychological stress of college students

BACKGROUND

College students are a high-risk subpopulation of psychological disorders. The problem of various adverse phenomena and consequences caused by excessive pressure on college students has gradually become the focus of social and psychological academic circles. However, studies related to individual self-concept and psychological pressure are rare.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the impact of sports dance exercises on college students' psychological pressure and improve the psychological effects of their self-satisfaction.

METHODS

College students were taken as research objects, randomly divided into a control group and an observation group. The observation group is intervened with sports dance exercises. The observation group was intervened with sports dance exercises. The stress response characteristic questionnaire and multidimensional self-satisfaction rating scale were utilized to measure college students' conditions before and after the intervention. Finally, the obtained data were statistically analyzed.

RESULTS

Generally, the psychological stress response of college students was mild, with self-satisfaction and various dimensions at a moderately higher level. No significant differences were discovered in the psychological stress response and self-satisfaction level between the control group and the observation group before intervention (P > 0.05), which were homogeneous. Compared with the data obtained before the intervention, after the intervention, the control group scores were slightly reduced in all dimensions of the psychological stress response and self-satisfaction. In contrast, the scores were significantly increased in the experimental group (P < 0.05). Psychological stress response could reliably explain 30.4%of the total self-satisfaction variance (P < 0.01). The negative self-evaluation was the most important variable affecting self-satisfaction, followed by poor interpersonal communication and poor sleeping quality.

CONCLUSIONS

Sports dance exercises could alleviate the psychological stress of college students and improve their self-satisfaction. Colleges and universities should include sports dance in the content of optional public courses and encourage more college students to actively participate in sports dance exercises to improve their mental health.

Arts engagement supports social connectedness in adulthood: findings from the HEartS Survey

Background

Loneliness is a public health challenge, associated with premature mortality and poorer health outcomes. Social connections can mitigate against loneliness, and there is evidence that the arts can support social connectedness. However, existing research on the arts and social connectedness is limited by focus on particular age groups and arts activities, as well as a reliance on typically small-scale studies.

Methods

This study reports survey data from 5892 adults in the United Kingdom, closely matched to the national profile in terms of sociodemographic and economic characteristics. It investigates the extent to which arts engagement is perceived to be linked with feelings of social connectedness, which forms of arts engagement are reported as most connecting, and how. Data were collected via the HEartS Survey, a newly designed tool to capture arts engagement in the United Kingdom and its associations with social and mental health outcomes. Demographic and quantitative data, pertaining to the extent to which arts engagement is perceived to be linked with social connectedness, were analysed descriptively. Qualitative data pertaining to respondents’ perceptions of how arts engagement is linked with feelings of social connectedness were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

Results

Results demonstrated that the majority of respondents (82%) perceive their arts engagement to be linked with feelings of social connectedness at least some of the time. The forms of arts engagement most linked with feelings of social connectedness were attending a live music performance, watching a live theatre performance, and watching a film or drama at the cinema or other venue. Four overarching themes characterise how arts engagement is perceived to facilitate feelings of social connectedness: social opportunities, sharing, commonality and belonging, and collective understanding.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that arts engagement can support social connectedness among adults in the UK through multiple pathways, providing large-scale evidence of the important role that the arts can play in supporting social public health.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-11233-6.

How leisure activities affect health: a narrative review and multi-level theoretical framework of mechanisms of action

There is a large and growing body of evidence on the health benefits of engagement in leisure activities (voluntary, enjoyable non-work activities, such as hobbies, arts, volunteering, community group membership, sports, and socialising). However, there is no unifying framework explaining how leisure activities affect health: what the mechanisms of action are by which engagement with leisure activities leads to the prevention, management, or treatment of mental and physical illness. In this Review, we identify and map over 600 mechanisms of action. These mechanisms can be categorised as psychological, biological, social, and behavioural processes that operate at individual (micro), group (meso), and societal (macro) levels, and are synthesised into a new theoretical framework: the Multi-level Leisure Mechanisms Framework. This framework situates understanding of leisure activities within the theoretical lens of complex adaptive systems and aims to support the design of more theory-driven, cross-disciplinary studies.

A Practice-Inspired Mindset for Researching the Psychophysiological and Medical Health Effects of Recreational Dance (Dance Sport)

“Dance” has been associated with many psychophysiological and medical health effects. However, varying definitions of what constitute “dance” have led to a rather heterogenous body of evidence about such potential effects, leaving the picture piecemeal at best. It remains unclear what exact parameters may be driving positive effects. We believe that this heterogeneity of evidence is partly due to a lack of a clear definition of dance for such empirical purposes. A differentiation is needed between (a) the effects on the individual when the activity of “dancing” is enjoyed as a dancer within different dance domains (e.g., professional/”high-art” type of dance, erotic dance, religious dance, club dancing, Dance Movement Therapy (DMT), and what is commonly known as hobby, recreational or social dance), and (b) the effects on the individual within these different domains, as a dancer of the different dance styles (solo dance, partnering dance, group dance; and all the different styles within these). Another separate category of dance engagement is, not as a dancer, but as a spectator of all of the above. “Watching dance” as part of an audience has its own set of psychophysiological and neurocognitive effects on the individual, and depends on the context where dance is witnessed. With the help of dance professionals, we first outline some different dance domains and dance styles, and outline aspects that differentiate them, and that may, therefore, cause differential empirical findings when compared regardless (e.g., amount of interpersonal contact, physical exertion, context, cognitive demand, type of movements, complexity of technique and ratio of choreography/improvisation). Then, we outline commonalities between all dance styles. We identify six basic components that are part of any dance practice, as part of a continuum, and review and discuss available research for each of them concerning the possible health and wellbeing effects of each of these components, and how they may relate to the psychophysiological and health effects that are reported for “dancing”: (1) rhythm and music, (2) sociality, (3) technique and fitness, (4) connection and connectedness (self-intimation), (5) flow and mindfulness, (6) aesthetic emotions and imagination. Future research efforts might take into account the important differences between types of dance activities, as well as the six components, for a more targeted assessment of how “dancing” affects the human body.

Body composition and eating behaviour in non-professional adolescent female dancers

BACKGROUND

Dance is one of the most practiced sports in women's childhood and adolescence. It is often difficult for dancers to maintain a normal body composition without changing their eating habits, despite the presence of high intensity training. The study aims to investigate, through nutritional habits and body composition, the impact of this sports regime in the prepubertal period.

METHODS

Two groups of 10 adolescent dancers of classic and modern style were evaluated in terms of anthropometric parameters and hydration. Lifestyle, eating habits, adherence to Mediterranean diet, characteristics of menstrual cycle and risk stratification of Athletes' Triad Syndrome were evaluated through questionnaires. The data were reinterpreted based on the presence or absence of menarche.

RESULTS

The average BMI value was within the normal range (17.9 ± 2.2 kg/m2) in both groups. No significant differences emerged for anthropometric parameters and body composition between the two groups with the exclusion of the suprailiac fold which was significantly lower in G2 (classical: 0.1 ± 0.1 mm) compared to G1 (modern: 11.0 ± 6.6 mm) p < 0.001. Instead, differences observed (p < 0.05) was related to the presence or absence of the menstrual cycle. Despite the poor adherence to the Mediterranean diet, there was no evidence of risk of developing eating disorders or Athletes' Triad Syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS

The training of classical and modern dance does not seem to have any negative impact on the body composition especially in pre-pubertal age. The onset of the menarche determines the major modification of the body composition.

Promoting wellbeing and health through active participation in music and dance: a systematic review

Purpose: This review aims to reveal how music and dance participation relates to key social determinants of health, and acts as population wellbeing and health promotion and preventive tools for people without pre-existing health issues in diverse social groups.

Methods: A qualitative systematic literature review addresses the questions: 1) How might music and dance cultural practices relate to social determinants of health?; 2) What gaps exist in the current body of research examining how healthy individuals/populations maintain and promote good health and wellbeing through music and dance participation?; 3) What are the implications of the current body of literature for healthcare, policy and research?

Results: Music and dance relate to key social determinants of health, from social and cultural, and physical and mental health perspectives. A number of gaps in the literature exist, including underrepresentation of middle aged participants, men, and Indigenous, LGBTQIAP+, and migrant populations. There is a lack of consistency in theoretical and methodological approaches, and a language for effective communication across arts and health audiences.

Conclusions: A significant opportunity exists for cross-disciplinary collaboration to advance healthcare and arts policy, generate cost-effective approaches to preventive healthcare practice, and enhance the wellbeing and health of large and diverse populations.

Recreational Dance Practice Modulates Lymphocyte Profile and Function in Diabetic Women

This study aimed to investigate the impact of a 16-week dance-based aerobic exercise program on lymphocyte function in healthy and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) women. We enrolled 23 women: 11 with T2DM and 12 non-diabetic controls. Initially, we performed anthropometry and body composition measurements, afterwards, plasma levels of C-reactive protein, lipids, and glucose were determined. We used flow cytometry to measure the CD25 and CD28 expression in circulating lymphocytes, T-regulatory (Treg) cell percentage, lymphocyte proliferation, and cytokines released by cultured lymphocytes. The T2DM group had a lower proportion of CD28+ cells and a higher percentage of Treg lymphocytes and proliferative capacity at the baseline compared with the control group. After 16 weeks of the program, differences in lymphocytes between the T2DM and the control groups disappeared. The dance program promoted IL-10 increase in both groups. We found decreased IL-4, IL-2, and IL-6 secretion in lymphocytes from the control group and increased IL-17 secretion and IL-10/IL-17 ratio in the T2DM group after the program. The program promoted marked changes in lymphocytes in diabetic women, leading to a balance between the different profiles.