Group Singing: Benefits to Mental & Physical Health - Essay Sample

Introduction

Singing as a group, for example in a choir or in a party, is an enjoyable experience. Singing in a group makes an individual feel good and want to do it repeatedly. Involving oneself in group singing has a significant number of benefits to both physical and mental health. In this essay, we will look at views of Luanay and Perce (2015) and Kerr (2017) on the benefits of singing in a group to both mental and physical health.

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Benefits of Singing in Groups on Mental Health

Singing in groups instills a sense of acceptance to individuals. Both Kerr and Launay agree that singing in groups makes people who could free from isolation (Launay & Pearce, 2015; Kerr, 2017). Once the members sing in groups, they start feeling that society accepts them. Through group singing, members who could have initially felt that the community has rejected them begin to feel that they belong to the society. If we all keep singing in groups, no one would feel like they are not part of the community.

Singing in groups uplifts one's spirit. When we sing in groups, we uplift the spirit of the members suffering from grief (Kerr, 2017). Some people might be suffering because they had lost their family members, but when they sing in a group, they improve in their feeling. Singing in a group minimizes stress and puts members suffering from the condition in a better mood. Singing can be a good prescription for mental problems and is a sure cure for stress.

According to Launay, when one sings in a group, it reduces the level of a hormone by the name cortisol, which causes stress (Launay & Pearce, 2015). The more we sing, the less we get stressed because our bodies produce less of the stress hormone. Stress reduction makes one even to forget their problems if they keep singing in groups.

Through singing in groups, we get to meet new people and make new friends. Therefore, singing together makes us widen our friendship circle (Launay & Pearce, 2015; Kerr, 2017). Both articles lead us to understand that singing together creates a wider friendship web. Every time we attend places where singing groups will be, we can make more friends. Friends are an important treasure to an individual, and singing in groups makes us enrich that treasure.

Singing in a group either in formal or informal settings makes the singers develop a strong bond amongst them (Launay & Pearce, 2015; Kerr, 2017). According to Launay, singing together increases the body level of a hormone by the name Oxytocin, which makes us trust and love the other participants (Launay & Pearce, 2015). Suppose you attend a singing group once you miss having a chance to meet and sing with your newly met friends. Bonds that we build from singing in groups are not easy to break.

Benefits of Group Singing on Physical Health

One advantage of singing together as a group boosts the health of a person. When people who have had chronic diseases like cancer sing in a group, their health gets better. At the same time, singing in a group improves the health of a perso suffering from cancer (Kerr, 2017). The healing of singing in a choir is because singing reduces stress in the patients. Instead of always looking for a medical solution to at times, we should expose the cancer patients to singing groups.

Joining a choir or a football club in a song makes improves the health and immunity of an individual. According to Launay, the effect of regular singing in a group is bigger than avoiding smoking. Singing makes the body produce a hormone we call cortisol, which boosts body immunity (Launay & Pearce, 2015). When one sings in a group, stress and other mental problems reduce, and therefore the health of the person improves. We should keep singing in groups because it results in improved resistance to disease and ensuring that we live a healthy life.

For people with asthma, singing in a group makes the condition to get better. As one sings, they tend to increase the incidences of inhaling and exhaling, enhancing air circulation (Launay & Pearce, 2015). An asthma patient gets a boost in their health when they are in a singing group, and the more they sing, the more their health improves. Therefore, we should encourage our asthma patients to increase their frequency of visiting and participating in a singing group like a choir.

Conclusion

A singing group helps individuals to have better health both mentally and physically. On the part of mental health, singing in a choir makes one become spiritually uplifted and makes them feel good. Additionally, singing in a group makes someone meet new friends and creates a strong bond between them. Both works have indicated that singing in a group makes someone have reduced stress and other mental problems. The effect of group singing on physical health is that the members get more immune as we read from both works. Singing solves problems of cancer and asthma. For better health, both mentally and physically, people need to keep practicing singing in groups.

References

Launay Postdoctoral Researcher in Experimental Psychology, J., & Pearce Postdoctoral Researcher in Experimental Psychology, E. (2019, June 29). Choir singing improves health, happiness – and is the perfect icebreaker. The Conversation.
https://theconversation.com/choir-singing-improves-health-happiness-and-is-the-perfect-icebreaker-47619

Kerr Researcher in Science Communication, G. W. (2020, April 13). Choral music News, Research and Analysis. The Conversation.
http://theconversation.com/nz/topics/choral-music-34307.