Singing Makes Us Happy, Science Says It
In the shower, at home while we listen to music and nobody hears us, with friends … Singing makes us happy! This universal practice fills us with serotonin and oxytocin and is a sensational injection of enthusiasm within everyone’s reach. What’s more, people with Alzheimer’s have also been shown to react and wake up cheerful every time they are invited to sing.
Edith Piaf used to say that singing is a means of escaping to another world. Psychologists and neuroscientists, however, do not entirely agree with this idea. In reality, music therapy is a sensational channel to connect with others, to awaken the emotions that help us establish more intense bonds. And research shows it: singing makes us happy.
A study published in The Journals of Gerontology claims that when older people start attending a choir, their feeling of loneliness decreases and their health improves. From the age of 65 it is very common to suffer from depression associated with social isolation.
A simple habit such as being part of a group united by a passion for music improves interactions and produces positive changes on an emotional, cognitive and physical level. It must be emphasized that even daily activities such as singing in the shower for themselves act like a restart button capable of giving us energy, happiness and a good dose of optimism.
Singing makes us happy because the brain loves music
Happiness, after all, is the consequence of simple actions. Good company, an afternoon of rest, a lunch with friends… Well, even singing makes us happy for a basic and fascinating reason: our brain loves music.
We could say that the love story with this ancestral art has always accompanied humanity and that science, for its part, strives every day to explain it better.
On the other hand, Leonard Meyer, music theorist, explains in his book Emotion and Meaning of Music that the brain feels a kind of pleasant shock with every piece of music, with every note we dare to tune when we sing aloud.
It is an experience that pushes us to overcome ourselves and at the same time gives us a pleasant feeling of security.
Scientists also indicate that in our ears there is an indispensable structure for singing: the saccule. This small structure of the inner ear responds to the frequencies that are created as we sing. This physiological response generates pleasure in us, the vibrations immerse the brain in a state of cathartic and positive calm, almost magical.
Singing to improve our mood
Pablo Picasso used to say that to paint and draw you have to close your eyes and sing. If we pay attention, singing loudly or quietly, tight-lipped or humming is a recurring habit while we perform other activities. It is very common to sing while driving, playing sports, tidying up or even when working.
Singing makes us happy because it improves our mood. It releases endorphins, produces serotonin and lowers the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Some studies, such as the one conducted at the University of Frankfurt, also reveal that singing strengthens our immune system and improves breathing, diaphragm flexibility and lung health.
Among the most important benefits of singing, and which we have already talked about at the beginning of this article, we remember the positive effects on people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. The Alzheimer’s Association of the United States of America has been making what is called “Song for the Brain” for years.
Singing has been shown to improve the alertness of the elderly affected by this disease. It helps them to connect with others in a positive way, they have fun, laugh, are more receptive to communication and interaction, they focus more when they have to accomplish certain tasks and their mood improves.
Another aspect confirmed by experts in the field of intellectual disability, such as Tom Shakespeare and Alice Whieldon of East Anglia University, is that people with mental disorders benefit enormously from singing lessons. Anxiety and stress decrease, personal safety and social skills improve.
We could say that somehow singing is an exercise by which our brain will always feel rewarded. Music is an alternative form of language that does not act only as a purely cultural production. It is a space in which we all find ourselves, a form of communication that does not require words.
It is also that corner of the brain that almost always remains intact in the presence of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and that allows us to get in touch with the most precious dimension of us human beings: emotions.
