Claire Danes finds dancing helps her relax, allowing her a break from thinking and stress.Experts say dancing can boost endorphins and lower cortisol.To ease into dancing, choose a favorite song and give yourself time to settle in.
It’s no secret that getting into the habit of moving your body every day is really good for you. Going for a walk, taking a group fitness class or following an at-home strength training routine are just a few ways to decrease tension and release feel-good dopamine, but there are lots of other ways to get your daily movement in.
On a recent episode of the Good Hang With Amy Poehler podcast, Claire Danes shared the super-fun way she gets moving.
“It’s hard to balance those two things—body and brain,” Poehler said during the interview, “and that’s why I’m obsessed with the fact that you love to dance.”
“I do love to dance,” confirmed Danes. “I love to dance.”
For fans of Danes’ more serious works, like Homeland or The Beast in Me, it may be hard to picture her letting loose and cutting a rug. But the mom of three and Emmy Award-winning actor says dancing is how she gets “out of my brain,” at least when she can find the time.
“I don’t dance enough anymore,” she confessed. “I had a good wiggle the other night all by myself in the bathroom. I really needed it. But what does it do for me? The best is when you enter that flow state when there’s no thought and you’re just totally synchronized with whatever sound is coming through your ears.”
But what do the professionals think about dance and its benefits to our mental health? Stephanie Pappas, a licensed marriage and family therapist at SoulCal Therapy, says movement—especially movement paired with music our nervous systems respond well to—can unleash endorphins (feel-good hormones) and reduce cortisol (a stress hormone) considerably.
As for Danes’ claims that dancing puts her into a “flow state,” Pappas says that’s also legit. “Feeling ‘in the groove’ or ‘being in the zone’ is what researchers call ‘flow state,’” Pappas tells EatingWell. “When someone is in a flow state, the pre-frontal cortex in the brain where they are constantly thinking, judging and processing everything around them goes slightly offline.”
If you feel a bit self-conscious about dancing, getting into that groove might just help you loosen up and enjoy yourself, too.
“This change in brain activity is also responsible for why time feels distorted when you’re having fun or are in the groove,” Pappas explains. “The dopamine reward system is activated, which makes the movement of dance feel pleasurable and the cerebellum, which helps us do things like balance and movement without too much thought, is leading the way.”
Wanna give Danes’ go-to method of de-stressing a go? Pappas says it’s easy to get into a dance habit at home. Here’s what the therapist recommends:
Put on an old favorite. “Start with music that speaks to you through your body,” says Pappas. “If you know there’s an old high school song or top hit that makes you tap your toes, start there. Your body is naturally going to respond to the movement, however small, and if you’re up to it you can challenge yourself to build off of that to get your whole body engaged.”
Give yourself time to settle in. “Know that even though you might feel silly at first, that’s your prefrontal cortex still talking,” Pappas adds. “Push through the judgment, cringe and self-criticism and allow your brain enough time to transition to the flow state.”
Let it all out. “You can imagine all the worry, stress, pain and fear you might be carrying, and express it through your movements,” says Pappas. Some examples of this type of movement? “Punching up into the air while bouncing, throwing your head and hair around or making large movements with your body,” Pappas recommends.
However you decide to shake and shimmy, our expert’s take on Danes’ love of dancing is that it’s worth trying at home. “There are few things in day-to-day life that allow us the freedom to let our ‘thinking’ brain take a break,” she says. “Dance is an accessible, lighthearted, grounding way to give our mind and body a healthy reset.”
