The Importance of Dance

I have three daughters who are now teenagers. As my girls were growing up we would do this thing where I would shout ‘Random Dance Party’ at unpredictable times of the day and put on loud music (normally JUMP AROUND by House of Pain) and we would all dance around like maniacs. I never really knew why I did it, fast forward to now and I’m reading around neurotransmitters (‘The Molecule of More’ by Daniel Lieberman and Michael Long) and listening to podcasts by @heytiffanyroe lately and the penny dropped. This is the role of Dopamine. The lovely little hormone is released and is pleasurable but the behaviour that stimulates must be intense and novel – which allows the brain to access logical cognition in the prefrontal cortex and so dancing is exactly that! So dance the day away or at least incorporate a Random Dance Party In your day!