It’s important to acknowledge our mental health as dancers. These 10 habits are designed to help you improve your mental health in both dance and other aspects of your life for your dancer mental health!
Mental health and mental health tips are hard topics for everyone but especially for dancers. As dancers we deal with and balance a lot of stress and anxiety that can easily impact our mental health. Being a dancer that is no stranger to dealing with mental health issues and finding the best dance mental health tips, I’ve created this post all about dancer mental health to help other dancers.
In this post you are going to learn all about dancer mental health, why dancers struggle with mental health, dancer mental health statistics, mental health tips for dancers, and more.
This post is designed to help you also find the right mental health resources for dancers.
This post is all about dancer mental health
Dancer Mental Health
Why do dancers struggle with mental health?
Dancers struggle with their mental health for a variety of reasons.
Dancing itself can be stressful. There is a lot of pressure put on dancers to be perfect, look perfect, and act perfect. When we realize that this isn’t reality or struggle to achieve perfection (which btw will never be possible) we tend to be hard on ourselves.
We also deal with a lot of external pressures like school, dance schedules, performances, dance competitions, and more that sometimes it can just be too much.
These pressures and stressors can lead to poor mental health and mental health issues amongst dancers. The common types of mental health conditions amongst dancers include anxiety and depression.
Statistics About Mental Health in Dancers
According to a study done to analyze the prevalence of mental health disorders in dancers, it was found that about one in five dancers deals with some form of depression, anxiety, or an eating disorder.
This study also found that mental health issues were more common for dancers than most of the general population.
For these reasons, dancers need to be able to care for and prioritize their mental health through proper self care and professional help.
10 Habits to Improve Mental Health in Dancers
1. Practice Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness as a dancer is a great way to improve your mental health.
Mindfulness is when you allow yourself to have a greater sense of awareness to what you are doing in the moment.
You can do this through certain breathing techniques, meditating, or simply allowing yourself to be in the moment as you go about your day.
Check out this great article to learn more about mindfulness
2. Prioritize Self-Care
Self-care is incredibly for dancers. If we don’t take care of our minds and bodies then we can’t dance.
Take time to practice good hygiene, sleep habits, and maybe even set a specific self-care routine in place.
However you practice self-care make sure your practices are tailored to your needs and your life. Everyone has different meanings of self-care and you shouldn’t let anyone else’s routine affect your own.
3. Find Ways to Dance for Fun
When you are dancing for most of your life it can easily start to become less fun and more like a job. If you’re only dancing when and because you feel like you have to it won’t be fun or enjoyable anymore.
You need to find ways for dancing to be fun again and ways that you can dance for fun.
This might mean creating fun dances to your current favorite song with your friends or improving on your own.
However you choose to dance for fun make sure you are genuinely able to enjoy yourself and feel good while you are dancing.
4. Take Time to Rest
It can be very easy to want to dance, train, and focus your entire life to dancing all the time. However, taking time to rest is incredibly important.
Resting as a dancer is important for both your mind and your body. Without resting you won’t be able to dance your heart out in rehearsal or on stage.
5. Have a life AWAY from dance
Every dancer needs to remember that they are not only dancers but they are also humans.
Dance can sometimes become a lot like a job. If it starts to consume your entire life, it can become less and less fun to do.
That’s why it is incredibly important for your mental health as a dancer to have a life away from dancing. Try and take time for other things like your personal hobbies, friends, and family.
When you are hanging out with your dance friends, try and talk about things other than dance or rehearsals.
Prioritizing your life outside of dance in this way can help you enjoy dancing more when you are at the studio and can really improve your mental health as a dancer.
6. Practice positive self talk
Sometimes as a dancers, it can become all too easy to fall into the trap of only seeing yourself in a negative light.
However, when we say things like “that turn section was awful” or “I can’t jump” or any other negative phrase we can start to believe them.
Using negative phrases and language to talk to yourself can do bad things to your self-esteem and your mental health.
That’s why it is important to use and practice positive self talk as a dancer to improve and sustain your mental health.
Practice positive affirmations and self-talk in order to boost your self-esteem as a dancer. Say things like, “That wasn’t my best run, but I am capable of being a great dancer” and “One mess up does not define my abilities as a dancer”.
Check out this blog post from the Dancing Dance Mom for more tips on using positive self talk
7. Set social media boundaries
With all of the amazing and gorgeous dancers out there on social media, it can be easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to them and feeling as if you’ll never be good enough.
We all know that social media can be incredibly harmful to our mental health which is why it is important to set boundaries with it.
8. Build positive relationships
Building positive relationships in your personal life whether these be family or friend relationships is very important for your mental health as a dancer.
Building positive relationships will help you have individuals and groups to turn to when you need help and support.
It is also helpful to have relationships that involve your life outside of dance. Discuss things other than dance with your friends and family. This will help you set powerful boundaries and keep your dance life positive.
9. Value your time off
It can be easy during any break from dance to just worry about going back to dance, the choreography you have to remember, and stressing out to be in shape to dance. While it is important to keep some of these things in mind it is also important to remember to value your time off.
This means putting the dance bag and dance stuff away and relaxing. Allow yourself to do things other than dance or think about dance.
Be intentional about your time off and allow your mind and body to rest.
Remember you aren’t just a dancer, you are also a human being with a life and identity that is more than just being a dancer.
10. Journal
Journaling is a wonderful way to reflect and manage your emotions. You can journal and write about a variety of topics surrounding dance or just about your everyday life.
Journaling can also help you do things like achieve your dance goals and boost creativity for that new dance piece you’ve been trying to choreograph.
If you want to learn more about journaling for dancers check out this post!
Mental Health Resources for Dancers
While I am not a mental health professional by any means I can provide some great resources to help other dancers on their personal mental health journey.
For help and advice with nutrition check out Dance Nutrition
For therapy, counseling and mental health help check out Counseling for Dancers
For dance wellness coaching check out The Whole Dancer
You can also find more resources in my post all about dance anxiety
Before you go:
I hope this post helped you learn more about dancer mental health and gave you some great tools for your own dance mental health journey. Be sure to share this post with other dancers!
Let us know your favorite dance mental health tip below in the comments!
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