Effect of Bharatnatyam Dancing on Body Composion of Bengalee Female Children

Shankarashis Mukherjee^1, , Neepa Banerjee¹, Surjani Chatterjee¹, Sandipan Chatterjee¹, Ayan Chatterjee¹, Tanaya Santra¹ and Bijan Saha¹

¹Human Performance Analytics and Facilitation Unit, Department of Physiology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India

Cite this paper

Shankarashis Mukherjee, Neepa Banerjee, Surjani Chatterjee, Sandipan Chatterjee, Ayan Chatterjee, Tanaya Santra and Bijan Saha. Effect of Bharatnatyam Dancing on Body Composion of Bengalee Female Children. American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2014; 2(1):56-59. doi: 10.12691/AJSSM-2-1-10

Abstract

Obesity, defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health, is on the rise including in the pediatric population in developed as well as less developed countries. As children are now fast adopting computer based activity both habitual and recreational with minimal level of physical effort, the prevalence of childhood obesity is a major concern. Indian dancing has been practised as a popular recreational activity for a long period of time. Bharatnatyam dancing is a traditional form of Indian classical dance which involves different body postures with continuous rhythmic body movements and therefore it may have some impact on body composition. A study has been undertaken in this backdrop, to assess the effect of Indian classical. Bharatanatyam dancing on body composition variables of girl children. Female individuals (12-18 year), receiving Bharatanatyam dancing training for at least a period of five years and practicing daily for an hour for 6 days in a week, constituted the Bharatanatyam dancing group (DG). Children of similar age and socioeconomic background with no regular physical activity including any form of dancing were randomly selected for constituting control group. It has been observed that training in Bharatnatyam dancing has significant (P < 0.05) favourable impact on the body composition parameters measured anthropometrically compared to the age and sex matched counterparts. It could therefore be concluded that Bharatnatyam dancing has specific beneficial impact on maintaining favourable body composition variables in children and thereby reducing the chance of obesity in adulthood.

Keywords

childhood obesity, anthropometry, physical exercise, recreational activity, rhythmic movement

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References

[1]	Krebs NF, Hi mes JH, Jacobson D, Nicklas TA, Guilday P, Styne D, Assessment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity, Pediatrics, 120, 193-228, 2007.
[2]	World Health Organisation, Obesity and Overweight, Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, 2006.
[3]	Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999-2010, Journal of the American Medical Association, 307(5), 483-490, 2012.
[4]	Daniels SR, Arnett DK, Eckel RH, et al. Overweight in Children and Adolescents: Pathophysiology, Consequences, Prevention, and Treat ment. Circulation, 111, 1999-2002, 2005.
[5]	Rockville, Office of the Surgeon General, The Surgeon General's Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation, 2010.
[6]	Dietz WH, Overweight in Childhood and Adolescence. New England Journal of Medicine, 350, 855-857. 2004.
[7]	Kumari DJ, Krishna BS, Prevalence and Risk Factors for Adolescents (13-17 Years): Overweight and Obesity, Current Science, 100, February 2011.
[8]	Lakka TA, Bouchard C, Physical Activity, Obesity and Cardiovascular Diseases, Handb Exp pharmacol, 170, 137-63, 2005.
[9]	Hill AP, Andersen LB, Byrne NM, Physical Activity and Obesity in Children, Br J Sports med, 45(11):866-70, Sep 2011.
[10]	Karageorghis CI, Terry PC, Today 5, Sports Med, 38-41, 2001.
[11]	Mastura J, Fauzee MSO, Bahaman AS, Rashid S, Somchit MN, Biol Sports, 29, 63-69, 2012.
[12]	Andreasi V, Michelin E, Rinaldi AEM, Burini RC, Physical fitness and Associations with Anthropometric Measurements in 7 to 15-year-Old School Children, Jornal de Pediatria, 86, 2010.
[13]	Donohoue PA, Behrman RE, Kleigman RM, Jenson HB,Obesity. In, Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics, 17th ed, 173-7, 2004.
[14]	Raj M, Kumar R, Obesity in children & adolescents, Indian J Med Res, 132, 598-607, Nove mber 2010.
[15]	Wyon M, Allen N, Angioi M, Nevill A, Twitchett E, Anthropometric Factors Affecting Vertical Jump Height in Ballet Dancers, Journal of Dance Medicine & Science, 10, 106-110, 2006.
[16]	Arslan F, The effects of an eight-week step-aerobic dance exercise programme on body composition parameters in middle- aged sedentary obese women, International SportMed Journal, 12, 160-168, 2011
[17]	Kostić R, Đurašković R, Miletić D, Mikalački M, Body Composition of Women Under the Influence of the Aerobic Dance, Physical Education and Sport, 4, 59, 2006.
[18]	S Mukherjee, N Banerjee, S Chatterjee, B Chakrabarti, Impact of Bharatnatyam Dancing Exercise in Reducing Central Obesity in Adult Bengalee Females, Sci & Cult, 79 (11-12), 503-506, 2013.