Music for me plays a huge part in lifting up my mood and increasing my energy or it works to calm my mind and body. If you find it hard to get motivated and feel drained of energy to do a workout, in my experience, dancing is the cure! You may even eventually find side planks become part of your dance moves. I know it has for me. I even find myself reaching out for my booty-band, get on all fours and do several reps of donkey kicks. The best part? My daughter is observing, and joining in the fun by trying to mimic my movements all the while dancing to the music.

… a study by the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital — that the experience of listening to music releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain responsible for tangible pleasures such as food, sex, or drugs. Certain instances of dopamine release were associated with “chills”–physical changes in heart rate, breathing, and temperature, due to listening to music.

Science Says Listening to These 5 Songs Will Make You Remarkably Happy by  PETER ECONOMY, THE LEADERSHIP GUY@BIZZWRITER

Benefits of listening to music

Music improves memory

Mommy brain gets the best of all of us. Not only do we probably want to help our own memories but enhancing our little ones mental abilities is something we also covet. Yes?

Doctors will often use music and lyric recall to help individuals retrieve lost memories. Certain music can trigger particularly unique memories- music from a specific time period will trigger memories from that time period.

The Benefits of Music: How the Science of Music Can Help You

Dance and music helps you sleep better

Sleep? Mamas we all want more of it right? Being on autopilot and zombie mode seems to be the norm. The fact that music can help is a huge plus. If baby sleeps, we sleep. According to the sleep experts, sleep has a direct effect on the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps your body relax and prepare for sleep.

Exercise can correct your sleep cycle: If your natural sleep cycle or “circadian rhythm” has been thrown off by travel or staying up too late, exercise can correct that. Your circadian rhythm is your biological clock, which keeps you awake during daylight hours and makes you sleepy when it’s dark. It responds to both heat and light from the sun. 

Dance Your Way to Better Sleep!; lull.com

Dancing is a great option for exercise

We know dancing is a great way to get the half hour of regular daily exercise that experts recommend. It’s fun, inexpensive, can be challenging or easy – clearly one of the best exercises you can do with your little ones.

The secret may be that dancing requires a variety of different skills, both mental and physical. “Dancing requires not only balance, strength, and endurance ability, but also cognitive ability: adaptability and concentration to move according to the music and partner, artistry for graceful and fluid motion, and memory for choreography,” the researchers write.

Dance Like Your Doctor Is Watching: It’s Great for Your Mind and Body: Time.com

Dancing makes you happier and relaxed

Mamas, we can also get some help to reduce levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Dancing can improve spatial awareness, as well as raising the heart rate and causing the body to release feel-good endorphins into our bloodstream. Just one of the reasons dancing makes us feel happy and relaxed.

researchers worked with 120 children, aged 2 to 5 years old, who were exposed to different types of sound stimuli, some were rhythmic and imitated the rhythm of the music, others were completely arrhythmic. They could appreciate that children who were moving following the rhythmic movements showed more positive emotions and felt happier. Therefore, these researchers concluded that not only we have a tendency to move to the beat of the music, but also that dancing improves our mood.

Science confirms: Dancing makes you happy; psychology-spot.com

My daughter loves our dance time. She will pass me the remote to the speakers often just so I can turn on the music for her to dance. I’m all for it knowing that dancing increases her dexterity and physical fitness as well as offering a physical outlet to release that pent-up excitement. I hope this helps you create a calmer household. Shall we dance?