Have you ever tried sudoku in the newspapers? How often have you finished one? How often have you gotten frustrated right before giving up on yet another one? Sometimes it feels like working out your brain and doing activities that are supposed to be relaxing contradict one another.
Singing, however, can be so much more than a guilty pleasure used for procrastination.
Making and Mending Memories
Does a certain song tend to bring you back to a specific place in time? This is because we tend to attach meaning to things that are in relation to something more meaningful. When we listen to music, we feel emotions projected from it and it radiates into the world around us, which makes what we’re doing, where we are, or who we’re with more memorable.
Research has found that people who suffer from dementia not only recall song lyrics from as far back as their youth, but singing those lyrics helped them to spontaneously recall personal memories that they had earlier forgotten.
Duking It Out with Depression & Pain
Our bodies create endorphins as part of our reward circuit. Singing, especially in a group, creates a sense of belonging and social connection as well as joy. These are things in which our bodies crave and in response, reward us for taking part in by triggering slightly increased endorphin levels. The release of these endorphins eases our sense of pain and depression.
Singing also aids in the release of oxytocin. When the neurons in the hypothalamus become excited, they create oxytocin, which passes into the bloodstream. It also sends chemicals to the brain, affecting human behavior. In this case, singing releases oxytocin, which fights against negative feelings.
Research even shows that patients who listen to music before surgery were less anxious before the operation and required less pain medication afterward as opposed to patients who didn’t listen to music.
Sedating Stress
Think about how you feel after dueting alongside the radio. It may not make much sense, but it momentarily feels as if your problems have solved themselves. This is because singing releases pent-up emotions, giving a sense of mindfulness and relaxation.
In response to stress, cortisol hormones are created in the adrenal glands. While it is an essential hormone that aids our bodies in ways such as regulating blood sugar and our metabolisms, a spike can cause health concerns like irritability and high blood pressure.
Singing can help reduce stress and maintain cortisol levels.
Studies have also shown that the amount of cortisol found in a person’s saliva after listening to music was visibly lower than it was prior to listening to music.
So whether it is your favorite tv show theme song or whatever pops up on the radio, don't forget to crank it up and rock out. Who knows how different you would be without them?
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