STRICTLY ON PRESCRIPTION

The health benefits of dancing. This week: Ballroom

ONE of the best ways to get over a tumour is to take up ballroom dancing, suggests a recent study by the University of Alabama.

The U.S. researchers ‘prescribed’ 31 breast cancer survivors either weekly ballroom dance lessons for ten weeks or nothing. They monitored patients’ progress with a quality of life scoring system to measure their wellbeing.

The results, published in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship, showed patients who took the classes were fitter, more mobile and more able to cope with the stress of diagnosis.

Previous research has also discovered ballroom dancing can halve the risk of dying from heart disease in those over 40.

A study of nearly 50,000 Britons found regular dancers were 46 per cent less likely to be killed by cardiac problems than those who rarely or never danced. Ballroom burns an estimated 300 calories an hour — the same as jogging.