▎ WuXi AppTec content team editor
It is almost the New Year, and various annual meetings and team buildings have arrived one after another, which is also a good time to watch colleagues and friends singing and dancing performances "Group Demon Fighting" scene.
Singing can be said to be an instinct engraved in human DNA.
Since ancient times, humans have found that the use of bone flutes can blow out special tunes and transmit signals.
As a social animal, everyone must listen to the "team song" of their own tribe, so that it is not easy to disperse, and in case of emergency, they can also assemble and retreat in time.
Later, humans learned to hum along with the tune, invisibly increasing team cohesion (this is probably the prototype of team building).
Later, the tone is paired with language and text, and there are lyrics that can express various feelings. For example, the "Book of Poetry" can be called the earliest "folk song golden song lyrics compilation" in China.
Whether it is the bathroom Mai Ba, or the "five-tone incomplete star person", when you hear the music want to follow the hum, someone sings a sentence can't help but want to take the next sentence, don't be shy, this is completely your "DNA moved" performance.
Image Source:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singing_Lesson.jpg#fileunder public domain
Why is it that when you are in a bad mood and stressed, you feel a lot better singing a song, and the more you sing, the higher you are?
As early as 1930, studies found that many famous singers lived to be 80 or even more than 100 years old. Can love singing really make people live longer?
Today, I will tell you a good news -
The role of singing is not only entertainment, but also brings unexpected benefits to physical and mental health.
The benefits of singing for physical health
1. Regulate breathing and improve respiratory diseases
Speaking of this topic, it is necessary to mention a pneumoconiosis patient named Lin Yingde in Jiangxi.
After falling ill and losing his job, he sang in the live broadcast room himself, and he loved to sing high notes, which he said was his "happiest time".
Image source: China Youth Online[6]
Many people wonder why they still sing when they have respiratory diseases, and does it really not affect the condition?
On the one hand, some diseases need to have triggers to develop (for example, allergic asthma is the onset of inhaled allergens), and when the disease is not onset, normal singing is basically not affected.
On the other hand, a 2018 review published by Canadian researchers in the Journal of Voice reviewed many relevant studies and concluded that scientific singing training is helpful in improving the quality of life of patients with respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, cystic fibrosis, etc.
Listen, you're breathing every minute and every second, it's a passive process that doesn't require deliberate control.
But when singing, you need to actively control your breathing, use the correct posture, effective breathing, stable airflow, and reduce the tension of the vocal cords in order to sing a beautiful song.
(Why are professional singers so relaxed and natural, they really rely on "ingenuity", not laborious squeezing out ~)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taubertal_Revival_Tour_2017_24.jpg#fileunder under CC-BY-SA-4.0
So, practicing singing allows you to slow down your breathing muscle tone and control your breathing better.
Is the same for those with respiratory-related diseases?
The answer is yes!
Many studies have found that systematic singing training can improve the physical function of these patients, reduce the feeling of difficulty breathing, and improve the quality of life.
Of course, it is not recommended that patients "retreat cultivation" themselves, but should be carried out under the guidance of professionals such as vocal music teachers or respiratory therapists.
Otherwise, the opening method is not right, and the practice is "chaotic and the power is exhausted", and it will be troublesome.
2. It is good for cardiovascular and stabilizes blood pressure
Friends who have practiced singing know that when they open the sound, they must sing various scales with the piano.
Studies have found that elongated vowel training (such as "a-o-u-"), as a slow deep breathing exercise, can also improve cardiovascular stress reflex sensitivity (BRS) – our body's own "blood pressure regulation" function.
When the cardiovascular system feels a sudden rise in blood pressure, it stimulates the vagus nerve, slows down the heart rate, dilates blood vessels, and allows blood pressure to drop smoothly.
Especially in the elderly, as we age, stress reflex sensitivity may gradually weaken, and this weakening may be related to essential hypertension.
In other words, singing slow songs or slow deep breathing may help middle-aged and elderly people prevent high blood pressure, or play a certain auxiliary role in stabilizing blood pressure.
Studies have found that the average blood pressure of professional singers is significantly lower than that of musicians playing instruments.
In addition, singing can also enhance heart rate variability (HRV) – you know, this weakening function is an independent risk factor for sudden cardiac death and arrhythmias.
3. Regulates the immune system
Secretory immunoglobulin A (S-IgA) is an antibody that protects the upper respiratory tract from bacterial and viral infections and is a clinical indicator of a person's immune ability ("resistance").
The study found that in the participants who sang and played musical instruments, secreted immunoglobulin A was significantly higher than those who listened to music and rested quietly.
This shows that active participation in musical activities has a greater impact on the immune system than passive listening to music.
There are also studies that have found that after cancer patients and their families participate in choral activities, cortisol hormone levels decrease, while the activity of cytokines and receptors (TNF-α, etc.) in the body increases significantly.
The reason may be that singing reduces the inhibition of cortisol on the immune system, thereby activating immune activity.
The benefits of singing to the nerves of the brain, mental psychology
1. Bring happiness and reduce pain
When singing, our bodies release β- endorphins.
This substance has analgesic and sedative effects, bringing people a sense of pleasure, generating positive emotions and reducing negative emotions.
Studies have found that active singing is more likely to create a positive and optimistic feeling than passive listening to music or happy small talk.
2. Relieve anxiety and sing together to enhance feelings
Singing also stimulates the release of oxytocin. It is a hormone that relieves anxiety and stress and reduces negative behaviors and fears.
(Of course, rehearsals and performances on stage are still different, the pressure on stage will definitely be greater, and the pressure on professional singers will be more than that of amateurs.) ）
In addition, it can also enhance trust between people, help socialize, and make interpersonal relationships more harmonious.
Moreover, compared with solo singers, the mental health and happiness of choir singers are significantly stronger.
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vietnamese_Canadians_singing_2005.jpg#fileunder CC0-1.0
A study from the University of Oxford found that rehearsal choruses are the best ice-breaking activities, and people who are not very familiar with each other can quickly become friends and have a sense of belonging to the team like a family.
Therefore, when chorus rehearsals or group k songs, you will find that the friendship boat quickly upgrades to a "giant ship", behind which oxytocin is at work
The "social cattle people" with good interpersonal relationships are themselves 50% more likely to survive than people who lack social interaction, and are more likely to live a long life.
3. Stimulate cognition and promote learning and memory ability
The process of singing requires learning a lot of new things.
For example, learning and memorizing songs, learning to speak with teachers, learning different singing methods, learning how to look at conductors, how to sing harmonies with other voices, and so on.
In addition, singing may activate the brain's reward system, with a sense of confidence and accomplishment, and it also positively promotes us to learn more new skills.
And there's another big point – singing may help prevent or improve dementia symptoms.
A 2021 study by the University of Pittsburgh found that active musical activities such as singing, playing, and music creation may have a slight positive effect on cognitive function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (the early stages of Alzheimer's disease) or dementia.
Because active musical activity can stimulate multiple areas of the brain at the same time and invoke multiple systems, the brain gets a "360-degree exercise."
In short, after seeing so many benefits, I finally understood why the elders like to go to the community square park to sing, and when the epidemic control could not go out, they were also soaked in the K song software all day long!
Let more people fall in love with singing and organize more singing activities, which is a very positive thing for individuals and society.
So, did you sing today?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singing_Boy_with_a_Flute_WGA.jpg#fileunder public domain