South Africa breaks another world record... this time for mental health...

Photo Credit: Stock Image by Easter Max / Flickr

Zumba Port Elizabeth pulled off an incredible feat; they danced for 30-hours straight to break a world record and raise awareness for mental health.

Port Elizabeth, South Africa – What started as a way to raise awareness for mental health, has turned into a potentially new world record. The ladies at Zumba Port Elizabeth decided to host a class for 10 hours to raise awareness on how Zumba helps deal with anxiety. After some planning, they chose to do a 30-hour class which would mean a new world record could be set.

Teresa Drake, a Zumba instructor, said she had wanted to do a zumbathon for the last four years. After doing some research, she realised they could break a previous record which was a 24-hour zumbathon which was set in the United Kingdom.

They contacted the Guinness Book of Records and were told that for the record to count, they could only take a five-minute break every hour or a twenty-minute break every four hours. According to Teresa, through the 30 hours, they didn’t even get the chance to take all their breaks.

They started the zumbathon on Friday the 27th at 7:00 am and completed their class the next day at 1:00 pm. When announcing the event, Teresa wanted to make it known the purpose was for stress awareness. The new world record is a bonus.

“This event is all about creating awareness and showing our support to every single person battling with stress and stress-related disorders…

The two biggest culprits… anxiety and depression!!! Especially the family and loved ones with children, wives, husbands, parents, siblings and friends fighting cancer.

These two are very real and very crippling… But it is manageable… You can take back control… You can beat this and you can live a full, happy and joyful life…” – Teresa Drake

Teresa hopes the world record will encourage more people to join a Zumba class near them. She feels the exercise really changed her life, helped her face her own anxiety and also helped her lose weight over the years.

Everyone involved celebrated with a slice of cake afterwards. They are now waiting for the officials to get back to them with the information relating to their record.