Dance Dance Revolution

At about quarter of one yesterday morning, I found myself lying in bed, wide awake, with a case of the Boogie Woogie Flu. I don’t know why it is, but sometimes my mind just won’t allow me to sleep, no matter how tired I am. I chalk last night’s misadventure to being overstimulated from Ladies’ Night with Nance and Tzi Tzi. The only way I could think to deal with my restlessness was to move. And by move, I mean dance.

Imagine it… the slider door is open and the air outside is heavy and still. The room is dark (I was trying to promote restfulness, after all), illuminated only by the blue glow of the LED display on the CD player. My shadow is cast tall and long onto the ceiling and I am grooving to Verve Remixed3, in particular the following tracks: Tom Findlay and Tim Hutton’s Sugardaddy Remix of “Come Dance With Me” by Shirley Horn, the Brazilian Girls Remix of Blossom Dearie’s “Just One of Those Things,” the RJD2 Remix of Astrud Gilberto’s “The Gentle Rain,” “Stay Loose” by Jimmy Smith remixed by Lyrics Born, and as a cooldown, Junior Boys take on Billie Holiday’s “Yesterdays.”

You may think I am a bit eccentric to dance in the dark in the middle of the night. Maybe I am, but I'm comfortable with it. And that’s how I (rock and) roll.

Today I happened across two tidbits that relate to the overwhelming feeling I sometimes have to just get up and dance on the pages of the June 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living*. The first is an article about how dancing helps to stabilize the joints, to slow bone loss, and improves strength, balance, flexibility, and posture. Additionally, this article relates that a 2008 Australian study found that dancing focuses the brain to be “in the moment” and may be as effective at combating depression as practicing yoga.

The second is the findings of Canadian researchers at McGill University that listening to ones favorite music increases the brain’s production of dopamine, a chemical that is associated with elevation of mood. These researchers also found that when one merely thinks about favorite songs, the brain begins to produce dopamine. 

Thinking about my midnight boogie ball, I suppose I did feel exhilarated and blissful when I was through. And because it was 85 degrees in my apartment, I can say that I was also hot and sticky. I was not, however, any more sleepy than before I started.

*As an aside, I am in no way a fan of Martha Stewart, and I subscribe neither to her supercilious outlook on entertaining nor to her magazine. However, someone left a copy of this issue in the waiting room at work and the Italian ices on the cover looked so decadent that I was compelled to flip through. Like the Martha product or not, I am a sucker for photography that pops and her magazine always knows how to deliver.