Spanish
We are in that time of year when the air begins to vibrate with angelic voices, or to resonate with the occasional vigorous hymn, while Christmas carols transmit their indomitable festive joy.
But these singers, whether they realize it or not, while filling shopping centers, train stations, nursing homes, and the street of your house with joyful songs, are also improving their health.
It has been discovered that singing provides a wide range of benefits – spanning from the brain to the heart – for those who practice it, especially if they do it in a group. It can unite people, prepare our body to fight diseases, and even suppress pain. So, would it be worth raising our voices to celebrate?
"Singing is a cognitive, physical, emotional, and social act," says Alex Street, a researcher at the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research, who studies how music can help children and adults recover from brain injuries.
Psychologists have long been amazed at how people who sing together can develop a powerful sense of social cohesion, and even the most reticent vocalists join in when singing. Research has shown that complete strangers can forge unusually close bonds after singing together for an hour.
As expected, 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, it is believed that singing activates the vagus nerve, which is directly connected to the vocal cords and the muscles in the back of the throat. The prolonged and controlled exhalation involved in singing also releases endorphins associated with pleasure, well-being, and pain suppression. Singing also activates a wide network of neurons in both hemispheres of the brain, which causes the regions that manage language, movement, and emotions to be activated. This, combined with the focus on breathing that singing requires, makes it an effective stress reliever. "Well-being responses become evident in more vivid voices, facial expressions, and postures," states 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 life of all human beings, whether or not they have a musical inclination, 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 multiplication tables by singing and the alphabet through rhythmic and melodic structure."Singing in Community
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 struggle with as the disease progresses. Singing also represents a way to improve overall health, as it has been shown to be an underestimated exercise, comparable to a brisk walk. "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. A study even suggested that singing, along with various vocal exercises that professional singers perform to perfect pitch and rhythm, is an exercise for the heart and lungs comparable to walking at a moderate pace on a treadmill. But researchers are also interested in highlighting the often-unrecognized 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 cannot. "Suddenly, a feeling of equality is generated in the room, where the caregivers are no longer caregivers, and the health professionals also sing the same song in the same way," says Street. "And there really isn't much else that achieves that."Respiratory diseases
Among those who have shown to benefit most from singing are people with chronic respiratory diseases, something that has become an important focus of research for Keir Philip, clinical professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College London. Philip warns that singing will not cure these diseases, but it can serve as an effective holistic approach that complements conventional treatments.
"For some people, living with dyspnea 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 [of breathing], which can help improve symptoms." One of his most notable studies consisted of 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-lasting covid-19. For six weeks, the results showed that their quality of life improved and alleviated some aspects of their respiratory 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 virus into the air. "If you have a respiratory infection, it's best to miss choir rehearsal that week to avoid putting other people at risk," says Philip. But perhaps the most notable benefit of singing is that it seems to contribute to brain self-repair. This was illustrated by the story of former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a gunshot to the head during an assassination attempt in 2011. Over many years, Giffords relearned to walk, speak, 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 is often damaged after an acute stroke. Singing is also believed to improve the brain's neuroplasticity, allowing it to reconnect and create new neurological networks. There are theories that singing could also help people with cognitive impairment due to the intense demand it places on the brain, which requires sustained attention and stimulates word search and verbal memory. "There is a growing body of evidence supporting the cognitive benefits of singing in older adults," says Teppo Särkkämö, a 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 that demonstrates the powerful effects of singing, whether at a social or neurochemical level, underlines why it is such a universal part of human life. However, one of his concerns is that, as people spend more and more time connected to technology instead of each other through activities like singing, relatively few people experience its benefits. "We are discovering a lot, especially in the rehabilitation of brain injuries," she says. Studies are just beginning to emerge that show that singing can have these effects, even in people with significant injuries. It is logical that we can benefit so much, since singing has always played a fundamental role in the connection between communities. Perhaps it's one more reason to enjoy singing carols around the Christmas tree this year.
