EFFECT OF BHARATNATTYAM DANCING ON BODY COMPOSITION AND PHYSICAL FITNESS STATUS OF ADULT BENGALEE FEMALES

Abstract

Globally more than 1 billion adults are overweight, and at least 300 million of them are clinically obese. Obesity in the developing countries, including India, undergoing major nutrition and lifestyle transition, too, is on the rise. It has also been found to be associated with increased risk of the metabolic syndrome, coronary heart disease (CHD etc. American College of Sports Medicine (ASCM), recommends aerobic exercise for of body weight optimization and maintaining cardio vascular fitness. In this backdrop a study has been undertaken to assess the impact of undergoing training in Bharatnatyam dancing- a popular form of Indian classical dancing an aerobic exercise, on body composition and physical fitness status in young adult Bengalee females. 87 such volunteers, receiving the training for at least five years, constituted the dancing group (DG). It has been observed that individuals receiving the training have significantly favorable body composition and fitness status, compared to the control group (CG) consisting of 39 individuals from similar socioeconomic background and but not receiving exercise training of any form. It could therefore be concluded that Bharatnatyam dancing is a cost effective beneficial way of exercising for maintaining a healthy body composition and better fitness status and thus consequently reducing the cardio vascular risk factors.