According to a new study, dance classes are not enough to fulfill the requirement of exercise. The study has been published in the journal Pediatrics. It has been conducted by researchers with UC San Diego and San Diego State University.

They made use of accelerometers to measure the amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity received by children; these children were engaged in seven different types of dance classes such as ballet.

It was found in the study that only roughly 8% of children, and 6% of adolescents, received the 30 minutes of after-school exercise, recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings of the study have come in the middle of a long-term concentration on childhood obesity nationwide. Since 1980, obesity rates have more than doubled; it affects 18% of children age 6 to 11 in 2012, as per CDC.

Dance leads to ample movement, and can definitely be aerobic; however, James Sallis, one of the study's authors and professor of family medicine and public health at UC San Diego, said it doesn’t imply that hearts are pumping to the extent that they could be in studios in the nation.

According to him, “Part of it is to alert parents that kids in dance classes may not be as active as you think they are. We understand, of course, that dance comes mainly out of the arts and teachers are often teaching aesthetics”.

He said dance instructors may not consider they are doing a public health program; however, they should think about it that how they can play a role while they’re meeting their other goals.