Traditional Greek Dancing Can Have Major Health Benefits, Study Says

Rebecca Lewis April 19, 2016

Traditional Greek dancing can have major health benefits. It allowed elderly patients who had suffered chronic heart failure to jump higher than their sedentary counterparts - researchers say.

In the current study, participants with chronic heart failure aged 73 and up demonstrated improvement in their leg strength which allowed them to walk faster and further. They were randomly assigned to a three-month rehabilitation programme based on traditional Greek dancing or to their usual sedentary lifestyle. Exercise consisted of three 40 to 65 minute weekly sessions. None of those who took part had exercised in the previous year.

’We believed dancing would increase the attractiveness of rehabilitation programmes for patients with chronic heart failure.’ said Zacharias Vordos, an exercise physiologist at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki in Greece.

He said the traditional dance was chosen because Greek dancing is an important part of weddings and other celebrations, and is popular among older people.

At the start and end of the study, the researchers tested patients’ ability to jump using machine called a dynamometer which jump height, the amount of time the feet were in contact with the ground, and the strength and speed of the jumps.

There was no difference between either groups at the start of the study. But after three months, those who did joined the Greek dancing sessions had legs that were 10 per cent stronger than those who took no exercise, jumped 10 per cent higher, and 6 per cent faster.

While Greek dancing is sometimes associated with breaking plates in the public mind, no crockery was harmed during the study.

’Patients who participated in Greek dancing jumped higher at the end of the training programme, probably because they had stronger leg muscles.’

’It should also improve their coordination and reduce their risk of falling and being injured. It is possible that Greek dancing also gives cardiac benefit as demonstrated by Zumba fitness programmes with Latin music.’ he added.

The study was published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.

Source of this article:

Want to keep fit in old age? Try dancing like Zorba the Greek: Pensioners who took up traditional activity ’could walk faster and further’