The surprising health benefits of singing backed by science

But these singers, whether they realize it or not, as they fill shopping malls, train stations, nursing homes, and your street with joyous songs, are also improving their health.

It has been discovered that singing provides a wide range of benefits – ranging from the brain to the heart – for those who practice it, especially if they do it in a group. It can bring people together, prepare our bodies to fight disease, and even suppress pain. So, would it be worth raising your voice to celebrate?

“Singing is a cognitive, physical, emotional and social act,” says Alex Street, a researcher at the Cambridge Music Therapy Research Institute, who studies how music can help children and adults recover from brain injuries.

Psychologists have long marveled at how people who sing together can develop a powerful sense of social cohesion, with even the most reticent vocalists uniting in singing. Research has shown that complete strangers can forge unusually close bonds after singing together for an hour.

Unsurprisingly, singing has clear physical benefits for the lungs and respiratory system. Some researchers have used singing to help people with lung diseases, for example.

But singing also produces other measurable physical effects. It has been found to improve heart rate and blood pressure. It has even been seen that singing in groups or choirs strengthens our immune function in a way that simply listening to the same music cannot.

There are different explanations for this. From a biological point of view, singing is believed to activate the vagus nerve, which is connected directly to the vocal cords and muscles in the back of the throat. The prolonged, controlled exhalation involved in singing also releases endorphins associated with pleasure, well-being, and pain suppression.

Singing also activates a broad network of neurons in both hemispheres of the brain, causing regions that manage language, movement and emotions to activate. This, combined with the focus on breathing that singing requires, makes it an effective stress reliever.

“Well-being responses are evident in more vivid voices, facial expressions, and postures,” says Street.

These benefits could have deep roots. Some anthropologists believe that our hominid ancestors sang before they could speak, using vocalizations to imitate the sounds of nature or express feelings.

This could have played a key role in the development of complex social dynamics, emotional expression and rituals, and Street points out that it is no coincidence that singing is part of the lives of all human beings, whether musically inclined or not, noting that our brains and bodies are tuned from birth to respond positively to songs.

“Lullabies are sung to children and then songs are sung at funerals,” he explains. “We learn the multiplication tables by singing and the alphabet through the rhythmic and melodic structure.”

But not all types of singing are equally beneficial. Singing in a group or choir, for example, promotes greater psychological well-being than singing alone. For this reason, educational researchers have used singing as a tool to promote cooperation, language development, and emotional regulation in children.

Medical specialists are also turning to singing to improve the quality of life of those suffering from different conditions. Researchers around the world have studied the effects of joining community choirs dedicated to cancer and stroke survivors, people with Parkinson’s disease and dementia, and their caregivers. For example, singing improves the articulation ability of Parkinson’s patients, something they are known to have difficulty with as the disease progresses.

Singing also represents a way to improve overall health, as it has been shown to be an underrated exercise, comparable to brisk walking. “Singing is a physical activity and can have similar benefits to exercise,” says Adam Lewis, associate professor of respiratory physiotherapy at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.

One study even suggested that singing, along with various vocal exercises performed by professional singers to perfect pitch and rhythm, is a workout for the heart and lungs comparable to walking at a moderate pace on a treadmill.

But researchers are also interested in highlighting the often under-recognized benefits of participating in singing groups for the psyche of people living with long-term chronic illnesses. Street explains that singing allows these people to focus on what they can do, rather than what they can’t.

“Suddenly there is a sense of equality in the room, where caregivers are no longer caregivers, and healthcare professionals are also singing the same song in the same way,” Street says. “And there really isn’t much else that accomplishes that.”

Among those shown to benefit most from singing are people with chronic respiratory diseases, something that has become a major focus of research for Keir Philip, clinical professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College London. Philip warns that singing will not cure these illnesses, but it can serve as an effective holistic approach that complements conventional treatments.

“For some people, living with breathlessness can cause them to change the way they breathe, making it irregular and inefficient,” says Philip. “Some singing-based approaches help with this in terms of the muscles used, the rhythm and the depth.” [de la respiración]which can help improve symptoms.”

One of their most notable studies involved applying a breathing program developed through work with professional singers from the English National Opera as part of a randomized controlled trial in patients with long-term Covid-19. Over six weeks, results showed it improved his quality of life and alleviated some aspects of his breathing difficulties.

At the same time, singing is not without risks for people with underlying conditions. Group singing was linked to a superspreading event in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, as singing can emit large amounts of viruses into the air.

“If you have a respiratory infection, it is best to miss choir practice that week to avoid putting other people at risk,” says Philip.

But perhaps the most notable benefit of singing is that it appears to contribute to brain self-repair. This was illustrated by the story of former US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived being shot in the head during an assassination attempt in 2011.

Over many years, Giffords relearned how to walk, talk, read and write, thanks to therapists who used songs from her childhood to help her regain verbal fluency.

Researchers have used similar approaches to help stroke survivors regain speech, as singing can provide the hours and hours of repetition needed to promote new connectivity between the two brain hemispheres, which are often damaged after an acute stroke. Singing is also believed to improve the brain’s neuroplasticity, allowing it to rewire and create new neurological networks.

There are theories that singing could also help people with cognitive impairment due to the intense demands it places on the brain, requiring sustained attention and stimulating word search and verbal memory.

“There is a growing evidence base supporting the cognitive benefits of singing in older adults,” says Teppo Särkämö, professor of neuropsychology at the University of Helsinki, Finland. “However, we still know little about the potential of singing to slow or prevent cognitive decline, as this would require large-scale studies with years of follow-up.”

For Street, all the research demonstrating the powerful effects of singing, whether on a social or neurochemical level, underscores why it is such a universal part of human life. One concern, however, is that as people spend more and more time connected to technology rather than each other through activities like singing, relatively few people experience its benefits.

“We are discovering a lot, especially in brain injury rehabilitation,” he says. Studies are just beginning to emerge showing that singing can have these effects, even in people with significant injuries. It is only fitting that we could benefit so much, as singing has always played a vital role in connecting communities.

Maybe it’s one more reason to enjoy singing Christmas carols around the Christmas tree this year.