Hearth rate in women participating in a dance party and exercise classes: it's better to dance ?

Aim: Evidence indicate that older adults can significantly improve their aerobic power and other physical capacities through dancing but we don’t known researches that study the distribution of heart rate, in an ecological setting, during a dance party. The aim of the research is to detect the heart rate in older women during an dancing event and to compare it with that recorded in the group exercises classes. Methods: Heart rate (HR) was recorded in twenty-two women (age: 70.6 ± 5.6 years; BMI = 26.2 ± 3.2) during a dancing party, organized from Verona Municipality, in which the women participated in free way at the dance, and in two lessons of their exercises classes. The classes were leaded from fourteen different trainers that developed their usually exercises program. For every woman we calculated hers theoretical maximal HR and the percentage of the time spent at the light, moderate, vigorous and maximal effort, in three situations: the overall time of the dance party (D), the average of the two exercise classes (G), the most intense 50 min during the dance party (DS). The average of HR was calculated for the three condition (D-DS-G) and was detected the HR at the beginning of the dances (I). Chi square, one and two way Anova were used for the statistical analysis. Results: Subjects participated for 2 h and 130 ± 260 at the dance party. They spent 92.7 min in the light effort condition, 22.7 min moderate, 13.7 min vigorous and 3.9 min maximal. The average HR in DS was significantly greater than the initial HR (DS = 100.2 ± 17.2 bpm; I = 89.21 ± 13.6 bpm; p\0.001), while those inGandDwere similar at HR measured before the beginning of the dances. The exercises classes devote a percentage of time at light intensity higher than that in the D and DS (G = 80.6 %, SD = 58.7 %, D = 71.0 %, p\0.01). The time devoted to vigorous activity during the DS is much greater than that played in G (DS = 13.9 %, G = 1.4 %, p\0.01). The allocation of time into the four level of effort (light, moderate, vigorous and maximal) is different for each pair of activities (G vs D; D vs DS, DS vs G; p\0.05 for all). Conclusion: About the 30 % of the time spent at the dance party was devoted at moderate, vigorous or maximal level of effort: this seems to confirm, also in ecological conditions, that dance activities could promote cardiovascular physical fitness in older women. The low level of HR during the exercises classes, similar to that measured at the beginning of the dance party, and the low percentage of the time spent in moderate or vigorous level of effort, must raise the question whether the gym courses meet international guidelines for physical activity for health.