Introduction: Sedentary lifestyles remain a persistent health issue in Japan. Ballroom dancing has recently gained attention as a potential means of maintaining physical activity, but there are very few reports on Japanese subjects. Exploratory research is therefore needed to investigate the effects of ballroom dancing on the physical and mental health of sedentary middle-aged Japanese adults. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of ballroom dancing on various health-related physical and psychological outcomes in middle-aged adults compared to a control group. Methods: A parallel-group study was carried out. Thirty healthy but inactive middle-aged adults with no previous dance experience were divided into 2 groups: an intervention group which participated in a recreational level ballroom dance program for 10 weeks (60 minutes, once per week) and a control group which had no dance lessons. Subjects completed questionnaires regarding subjective mood changes and daily physical activity. Objective measures of physical fitness, oxidative stress, antioxidant capacity, and autonomic nervous system function were also assessed before (T0) and after 10 weeks (T11) of dance practice. Results: In the subjective questionnaire, the Profile of Mood States 2 (POMS®2) survey, one of the health-related indicators, T-scores of the Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) after the intervention showed a difference (P = .014) between the dance group and the control group. In post hoc tests, increases of autonomic activity and number of days of high-intensity physical activity correlated positively with a reduction in TMD in the dance group. Conclusion: Among inactive middle-aged adults, participation in weekly ballroom dance lessons for 10 weeks improved their psychological mood compared to a control group. The improvement was found to have the positive effects of activating autonomic nervous system activity and increasing high-intensity physical activity. The results suggest that ballroom dancing may be effective in improving exercise habits and physical and mental health.
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