Abstract
Hula dancing is a traditional Hawaiian art form, and a lot of people in Japan enjoy hula dancing. We thought that it might be a useful fitness exercise for elder people, and we examined the effect of hula dancing on physical and mental conditions. Thirty-three women (mean age 55.2 years,) joined a hula class held at our clinic and took lessons of 2-4 hours per week for 2 years. The results of medical and fitness tests showed that hula dancing built up their muscular strength and reduced their visceral fat. And in the results of the Profile of Mood States (POMS), all the scores for TA, D, AH, V, F and C were improved by dancing for one hour. We thought that the mental effect on POMS might be derived by activating the serotonergic system.
