For the ballroom pros, this certainly won’t be new information. But for those who have yet to take the floor, you might be surprised to find out just how good for you ballroom really is.

If you’re one of the millions who started 2010 with a resolution to get fit and healthy and are now finding you’re tiring of the gym, ballroom might just be the answer! In fact, depending on the step, an hour of ballroom dancing can burn of anywhere between 250 and 450 calories. And while ballroom dancing is indeed a reasonably intense aerobic exercise, it doesn’t just have cardio benefits. It works the muscles all over your body.

A session on the dance floor also has far more appeal to most than a laborious hour on the treadmill, given that it’s exercise you can take part in with a friend or partner and it’s fun! Research shows that the more fun exercise is, the more of it we’ll do, thereby increasing its benefits again!

But the health benefits of ballroom are not just limited to physical ones either. In fact, studies show it has a positive effect on your mental health too. Any form of exercise causes your brain to release endorphins, which are chemicals that put you in a good mood. On top of that, the element of memorising involved with learning a new step is great for your mind and a study released by the New England Journal of Medicine said dance can actually help to lower the chances of Alzheimer’s and dementia in later life, thanks to the way it works your mind.

So essentially, ballroom helps you get happy, get fit and keep your mind ticking over. If those aren’t enough cause to persuade you to pull on your dance shoes, I don’t know what will be!