Why Singing Is Surprisingly Good for Your Health

Why singing has positive impact on health. The answer is simple — it activates the brain. In addition, singing suppresses areas of pain and irritation, correcting mood. It is especially useful to sing in chorus.

Singing has been found to have a wide range of beneficial effects on the brain and heart of those who practice it, xrust states. Especially when singing in groups. Singing can bring people together, prepare our bodies to fight disease, and even suppress pain. So maybe you should raise your own voice to encourage yourself?

Psychologists have long marveled at how people who sing together can develop a powerful sense of social cohesion, with even the most reluctant vocalists becoming like-minded souls in song. Research has shown that complete strangers can form an unusually close bond after singing together for an hour.

Perhaps it's no surprise that singing has obvious physical benefits for the lungs and respiratory system. Some researchers, for example, are using singing to help people with lung diseases.

But singing also has other tangible physical effects. It has been found to improve the heart rate and blood pressure of people. Singing in groups or choirs has even been found to boost our immune function in a way that simply listening to the same music cannot do.

There are various explanations for this. From a biological perspective, singing is thought to activate the vagus nerve, which is directly connected to the vocal cords and muscles at the back of the throat. The long, controlled exhalation that accompanies singing also releases endorphins associated with pleasure, well-being, and pain control.

Singing also activates a wide network of neurons in both hemispheres of our brain, activating areas associated with speech, movement, and emotion. This, coupled with the attention to breathing that singing requires, makes it an effective stress reliever.

Some anthropologists believe that our hominid ancestors sang before they could speak, using vocalizations to imitate the sounds of nature or express feelings. It may have played a key role in the development of complex social dynamics, emotional expression and ritual, and Street notes that it is no coincidence that singing is a part of everyone's life, whether musically inclined or not, noting that our brains and bodies are wired from birth to respond positively to song.

Xrust Why singing is surprisingly good for your health